According to what's circulating behind the scenes in the NHL, the GM was one of the most active in the league this summer.
As reported by Renaud Lavoie on BPM Sports Monday morning, the Canadiens' GM had his hands in several matters. Not only did he show interest in Patrik Laine, but he also indeed looked into Yaroslav Askarov, Rutger McGroarty, Martin Necas, and Trevor Zegras.
TVA Sports - "The Canadiens are involved in several matters!"
The hockey insider also mentioned that Laine wasn't part of the Canadiens' plans at the beginning of the summer. The team was more focused on Trevor Zegras and Martin Necas. These players are still with their respective teams...
The good news in all of this is that Kent Hughes is not only doing his due diligence by gathering information throughout the league, but he's also planting seeds here and there that could be useful to him in the near future. If he's done this for all these players, it wouldn't be surprising if he's doing it for others as well.
In the recent documentary on the Canadiens' draft, we saw how prepared Hughes was. He had Plans A-B-C and even D for every situation. We even saw him decline a trade that we assume was for the 5th overall pick (which turned out to be Demidov).
The behind-the-scenes work of the club's new leadership seems excellent. What's even more surprising, compared to the Bergevin era, is that rarely is a trade leaked by insiders. Hughes is working on every matter, but secretly!
To listen to the full segment with Renaud Lavoie, click here: BPM Sports
POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 2 | 606 ANSWERS Renaud Lavoie has new information regarding Kent Hughes and the trade market for the Canadiens Who do you think will score the most points this season? | ||
Martin Necas | 96 | 15.8 % |
Patrik Laine | 358 | 59.1 % |
Trevor Zegras | 52 | 8.6 % |
Kirby Dach | 100 | 16.5 % |
List of polls |