The fact that he was seen being completely inactive in the trade market has led many people to feel that the GM has abandoned his team in the playoff race.
There is a fear that players will be upset about this.
In fact, people are afraid that players will get discouraged, that the team will barely miss the playoffs (which is bad for the draft), and that the GM didn’t maximize the value of his rental players in a seller’s market.
As if the playoff race wasn’t worth anything in terms of experience for the players…
I was expecting the GM to use his last salary retention right or to be active to help the Rocket – apart from paper transactions. On this, I agree that it’s a missed opportunity, even if it will give some maneuvering room for the draft since the team will have a retention space available.
And this, even if Kent Hughes said that the Rocket, when healthy, had enough elements.
Not selling Joel Armia and David Savard, two guys who wanted to stay in town, despite high prices, is a bit like buying since you’re passing on the opportunity to add elements.
It must count for something, right?
And as for buying, we can see that the prices didn’t make sense. We’ll have to wait until this summer to complete some transactions to help the team.
In my eyes, it’s logical. Renting a player wasn’t worth it, and big trades are often made in the summer.
Hughes, who made a good move this week by signing Jake Evans at a discount, sent the message that he believed in his team and not the other way around. Even when buying, you can hurt your team… #AskBradyTkachuk
He was also aware of the market: many rivals sold, and the Canadiens didn’t. That gives them an advantage.
Hughes accepted to wait until this summer to settle his free agent files, even if the team can’t compete for the Stanley Cup. If I’m a Canadiens player who has lived through the last few years, I like what I see.
The group stayed together… and the team is #IntheMix. All’s well that ends well?
extension
Yes, this data makes the Canadiens look bad… but we can also make a list of teams that didn’t sell and find the Canadiens on it. Even the Hurricanes sold today, to a certain extent. Would you have wanted the Canadiens to trade a star player?
