Kent Hughes played hard to get ahead of his first trade deadline day as general manager of the Montreal Canadiens.
Hughes and the Habs front office didn’t make any calls to swing trades, instead letting the deals come to them. Despite this passive approach, Montreal netted seven draft picks before Monday’s 3 p.m. deadline.
That included three moves in the hours before the trade cutoff. Forward Artturi Lehkonen was sent to Colorado for defenceman Justin Barron and a second-round pick in the 2024 draft. Goaltender Andrew Hammond went to New Jersey for centre Nate Schnarr. Defenceman Brett Kulak was shipped to Edmonton for fellow D-man William Lagesson, a conditional second-round pick in the 2022 draft and a seventh-round pick in 2024
“We weren’t active. We didn’t make calls about Lehkonen or Brett Kulak,” Hughes said. “But we received calls all through yesterday and today the trades that were proposed got better and in the end we made those decisions.”
Montreal’s seven new draft picks include a 2022 and a 2023 first-round pick from the Tyler Toffoli and Ben Chiarot trades last week. In addition to the young prospects added to the pipeline, Hughes said he liked the flexibility his team will have come draft day.
“We also now have a substantial number of picks and we can make determinations at that point in time whether we use them or whether they’re part of a trade process in the future,” Hughes said. “We’ll evaluate. We might draft and use every pick, we might trade picks and that might be another pick and a different draft or it could be for a player or a prospect.”
“We will continue to advance. Anytime we can advance the timeline here to putting a playoff contending team on the ice. We’ll do it.”
Hughes, a former player agent, said he got gently ribbed by rival general managers about his old line of work.
“There were a lot of jokes about the salary cap and comments from a lot of GMs about how ‘For the first time in your life the cap counts,”’ laughed Hughes.
The Habs post-season experience was for sale, with their run to last season’s Stanley Cup final adding value to some of their players.
Lehkonen, whose overtime goal in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final sent Montreal to the NHL final, appealed to the Avalanche. In return, the Canadiens got the 20-year-old Barron. He had his first taste of the NHL this season but mainly played with the American Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles, where he had seven goals and 21 assists in 60 games.
“He’s a big guy that skates well,” said Hughes. “I always said that skating was important but it’s even more important with the way we play right now. He’s not just a good prospect, he’s a good fit for us.”
Vincent Lecavalier, Montreal’s new special advisor to hockey operations, said that Barron has undeniable upside for a rebuilding team.
“A guy like Barron, a tall 20-year-old right-hander, that’s a high demand anywhere in the National Hockey League,” said Lecavalier. “To be able to have a guy like him is really good for the future of the Canadiens.”
It was also Lecavalier’s first day in the Habs’ trade deadline day operation centre, meeting the co-directors of amateur scouting Nick Bobrov and Martin Lapointe for the first time. He was asked for his opinion on a few prospects and said he may go on a Europe scouting trip in the near future.
“I’m here to help the scouts and I’m happy to have met Martin and Nick,” Lecavalier said. “Kent and I speak often and he asks for my opinion on players and on certain situations that come up.”
Kulak was traded to the Oilers for a 2022 conditional second-round pick, a 2024 seventh-round pick and Lagesson. If the Oilers reach the Stanley Cup final, the second-round pick will be delayed to the 2023 draft.
Hughes said Montreal was involved in trade talks for Shea Weber’s contract, which holds an average annual value of US$7,857,143 but he couldn’t find the right fit.
“It came close but in the end we weren’t able to come to an agreement on the right trade for both teams,” Hughes said.
He added that the trade between the Winnipeg Jets and Arizona Coyotes that sent Bryan Little’s contract to the desert “possibly” affected negotiations but didn’t want to enter into specifics.
Veteran Jeff Petry’s name had been twirling all through deadline day but the defenceman stayed put. Hughes argued that “things that are discussed in March aren’t always necessarily there in June or July,” but the right trade simply wasn’t there.
“I’m relatively optimistic that we’ll be able to do something but again, I’ve always felt in this business that nothing’s done until it’s done,” Hughes added.
Hughes ended his day by sending Hammond to the Devils for Schnarr. The rookie GM said it was emotional for him as both sides wanted to keep Hammond in the NHL.
“I thought that at this point in his career, he deserves the chance to keep playing in the NHL,” Hughes said. “When the offer presented itself for us to give him that chance, we accepted.”
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