Hughes: the right price! | The Journal of Montreal


Kent Hughes does not hide it. The phone is ringing.

“Hello, Kent, here…congratulations and welcome to the world of GMs. You know, I always have my cell phone to hand, if you ever think of making some changes, I’ll have an attentive ear…”

Urge, urge, urge …

“Hello, Kent, congratulations. Welcome to our brotherhood… by the way, if you ever plan to trade some players, I’m listening. »

Urge, urge, urge …

Finally, when a newcomer shows up, we want them to take the welcome test right away. It is common practice. We want to test the waters as soon as possible, we want to know if Kent Hughes is willing to talk business.

We want to know more about his game plan for the next few weeks as we begin a strategic period in terms of workforce transfers.

And since the situation requires special attention due to a timetable that will undoubtedly require action by decision-makers, Hughes will obviously be called upon.

On the one hand, his team will not participate in the playoffs and he is counting on players who could have an impact on certain teams. We will also want to test the rookie general manager. However, in another vein, the situation in Montreal is quite different. There is Hughes and also Jeff Gorton, who has a long experience.

Hot files

On the desk, there are complex files, in particular that of Carey Price. That of Brendan Gallagher.

Is Jeff Petry willing to participate in the new structure that Hughes and Gorton intend to create?

For now, Hughes is filling his notebook with notes.

Over the past few days, he has taken advantage of the Canadian’s current trip to get to know the staff. He wanted to discuss with his trainer. He wants to know if Dominique Ducharme and his management philosophy correspond exactly to the culture that the new decision-makers want to establish.

Urge, urge, urge.

“Hello, Kent, congratulations, that’s…”

“Thank you, if you allow me, I’ll call you back, I’m currently in a meeting…”

“So, Dominique, we said…”

To Renaud Lavoie, of TVA Sports, he confided, Saturday evening, that the hours of sleep had been rather short.

And we can understand that.

He has a lot of files on the table.

Urge, urge, urge …

“Hello, Kent, you have a few minutes…”

« J’arrive, Jeff. »

The files are piling up but, at the same time, you don’t want to know anything about what is happening across the league. Hughes already has solid experience in the industry. He knows most of his counterparts. Now, when he discusses or will discuss with them, it will be to exploit different methods to grow his organization.

Learning week

After a first week, he has learned relevant information, he knows what awaits him. And he must be more convinced than ever that the Canadian is better than his record indicates.

“I’m back, Dominique, it was said that…”

The coach has surely made him an analysis of all the staff, he has made known his moods on each of them. Surely Hughes took the opportunity to ask the skaters questions. Questions about the atmosphere, the daily management of the team, the coach…

On the ice, the Canadian had a good week. In any case, the effort made by the players allowed them to compete at a level that we had not seen in several games this season.

Urge, urge, urge …

“Hello Kent, this is…my sincere congratulations and welcome.” I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that if you ever intend to make any changes to your squad, we would be interested in a defender…”

As Hughes has a reputation for being a very high-level negotiator, surely he let a few of his counterparts know that he had received several calls, that he would take a few days to familiarize himself with the team and then he was to resume the conversations.

Urge, urge, urge …



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