Major acquisition of a star player by Kent Hughes and the Canadiens: The general manager has all the tools to make a big impact

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David St-Jean
February 19, 2024 (11:59 PM)

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The Canadiens have a lot of promising prospects and an abundance of draft picks, with 12 choices in the upcoming June draft and 11 in 2025, including 5 first-round picks in the next three years.

It's a significant number, and Kent Hughes won't be able to retain all these prospects. He may not even be able to sign all the players currently in the prospect pool. Maxim Lapierre has summarized the situation well and expressed his hopes for Kent Hughes.

"I think Monahan would have helped young players like Slafkovsky, Caufield, in a team in reconstruction. Now, we can make a big trade, or at least I hope so, with the first-round picks we have and go after a Dach or Newhook, another player like that to help with the attack.

I think we need to go further than that. Dach or Newhook is very good, but we're due for the big trade, which will involve a first-round pick, a good young defenseman, some veterans, some contracts, whatever it takes to get the big star player we need. We're at that point. We draft well, continue to build, haven't deviated from the plan, which is very good."

- Maxim Lapierre

Rebuilding is good, but it has to end at some point. The Canadiens have drafted well and developed their players, but there's no star forward in sight.

One or more transactions are necessary, and the GM must act quickly; otherwise, the players he no longer wants might be the same ones other teams won't want.