After 25 years as an agent, Kent Hughes experienced the NHL day limit for the first time yesterday in the role of general manager.
He did not feel that his counterparts with whom he once negotiated the contracts of his former clients tried to set traps for him.
On the other hand, some of them did not fail to tease him.
“For the first time in your life, they said to me, the cape [plafond salarial] matters to you,” he said with a laugh.
Cumbersome contracts
Hughes actually knows the other side of the coin now.
He must deal with the disadvantages of the large contracts granted by his predecessor Marc Bergevin.
Had he been able to break the agreements between Shea Weber and Jeff Petry, he might have submitted contract extensions to Ben Chiarot and Brett Kulak if he had wanted to keep both defenders.
But there is reason to think that he had no intention of doing so.
It was clear in the case of Chiarot, who could get an average annual salary of $5 or $6 million in his next contract.
Hughes was not prepared to award him such an amount.
12 players left
Upon joining the organization, he said he likes teams whose style is all about speed and offense.
Also, the Canadian who participated in the Stanley Cup final last year does not correspond to the vision he has of his team for the future.
No less than eight players who were in the lineup for the final game in Tampa have left, including four since Hughes has been there.
Besides Chiarot and Kulak, the others are: Phillip Danault, Corey Perry, Tyler Toffoli, Eric Staal, Artturi Lehkonen and Shea Weber, assuming his career is over.
Added to these players are Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who had not been used in the last two meetings; Tomas Tatar who had become a reservist; not to mention Erik Gustafsson and Jon Merrill, who were rental players.
So we arrive at a total of 12 skaters.
The survivors, 13 in number, are: Carey Price, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, John Anderson, Joel Armia, Paul Byron, Joel Edmundson, Jake Evans, Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin, Jeff Petry, Alexander Romanov and Cayden Primeau, who acted as an auxiliary guardian.
In a few years, we will see what the 22 draft picks that the Canadiens hold for the next two years will bring in as well as the hopes Emil Heineman, William Lagesson and Justin Barron that Hughes obtained in his trades.
But let’s stick to the present.
Managers of the modern era
If the appointments of Jeff Gorton, Martin Saint-Louis and Hughes were skeptical at first, today we feel the sense of novelty that Gorton wanted to instill in the organization.
The speeches of these men contrast with those we heard in the past.
Gorton and Hughes are sports managers from 21e century.
St-Louis contrasts with its predecessors, that said without taking anything away from Dominique Ducharme, Claude Julien and Michel Therrien.
We could include the other coaches who have paraded with the Habs since the beginning of the millennium, that is to say the same Therrien and Julien when they were in their first arms in the National League, Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau , Jacques Martin and Randy Cunneyworth.
Hughes does not come from the line of Bergevin, Pierre Gauthier and Gainey either.
The Canadian has gone elsewhere. It has joined modern times.
Lecavalier takes a liking to it
We can add the name of Vincent Lecavalier to this category. Listening to him yesterday, I said to myself that he has a future as a manager in the NHL.
He relishes his role as special adviser to Hughes.
“Two years ago, what am I saying six months ago, I never thought I would be where I am right now,” he replied when I asked him about his plans for the future.
“Hockey was less present in my life in the years following my retirement as a player. Now I feel more involved. I will see players here and there. »
“It really makes me want to be part of something, to help. And do that with the Canadiens…”
Lecavalier was also wearing a decorated CH golf sweater.
Interesting months to follow
The next few months will be interesting to follow.
If Hughes couldn’t find common ground to trade Petry and get rid of Weber’s contract, nothing says he won’t get there after the season. Perhaps the DG could make a trade involving Petry at this time.
As for Weber, he could do the trick for the Arizona Coyotes, whose revenues are likely to suffer the repercussions of their move to a 5,000-seat amphitheater for the next three years.