Known insider confirms a major trade rumour involving the Canadiens

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MarcO
April 30, 2024 (1:39)

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Do not be surprised if Kent Hughes announces another trade similar to the Kirby Dach or Alex Newhook deals in the coming weeks.

During his last press conference, Kent Hughes loudly declared that he would seek to address one of his weaknesses, namely offensive talent, during the offseason. He is therefore in preparation mode to concoct another transaction like the Kirby Dach or Alex Newhook ones.

As we all know, to get something big, you have to give just as much. Hughes can certainly sacrifice his first-round pick obtained in the transaction that sent Sean Monahan to the Jets, but that will not be enough. He will need to give more to obtain an offensive talent of that name.

Fortunately, Hughes has a very good trading chip with his surplus of defensemen. And according to what David Pagnotta of the site TheFourthPeriod, he will not hesitate to sacrifice some of the many young defensemen in the CH's organizational chart to go after a forward.

David Pagnotta confirms the rumor that Kent Hughes is active on the market and trying to acquire a forward like Kirby Dach or Alex Newhook

See an excerpt from his text:

« It's no secret that the Montreal Canadiens want to add a scorer this summer, and the team plans to use some of its young defensemen as bait. Kent Hughes is not afraid to pull the trigger on a transaction around the National League draft, and that still seems to be his goal in June. » - David Pagnotta

It will be interesting to see not only who Hughes targets, but who he will sacrifice. With no fewer than 12 defensemen who can aspire to play in the big club, Hughes indeed has plenty of choices.

Mike Matheson
David Savard
Kaiden Guhle
Arber Xhekaj
Jordan Harris
Johnathan Kovacevic
Jayden Struble
Justin Barron
Logan Mailloux
David Reinbacher
Lane Hutson
Adam Engstrom

Will Kent Hughes go the easy route by trading third or fourth-tier defensemen (Harris, Kovacevic, Struble, Engstrom, Barron) or will he sacrifice established or promising defensemen (Matheson, Savard, Guhle, Xhekaj, Mailloux, Reinbacher, Hutson)?

We will see!

One thing is for sure, the club's top brass will have big decisions to make over the summer. In terms of potential targets, Martin Necas and Trevor Zegras often come up, but there are also youngsters like Alexander Holtz, Peyton Krebs, and Jack Quinn who could be very interesting.