In the latest edition of The Hockey News, in the Team Report section of the magazine, they’ve included a GM snapshot for each franchise. The blurb lists their most astute picks, their most dubious picks, their best trade, and their worst trade. Jared Clinton wrote about Montreal Canadiens’ GM Kent Hughes, and his choices got me thinking, especially when it comes to the worst trade section.
It's hard to argue with what he lists as astute picks; the selections of Lane Hutson, Jacob Fowler, and Ivan Demidov all look as good as gold so far. It’s a bit early to say if they’ll all pan out, mind you, but I can see why he chose those picks.
Clinton then lists two players as dubious picks: Filip Mesar, the 26th overall pick in the 2022 draft, and David Reinbacher, the fifth overall pick in the 2023 draft. While I believe he has a point when it comes to Mesar, considering that three years down the line he has yet to make any lasting impression and was a healthy scratch for all but one of the Laval Rocket playoffs games, it’s way too early to dub the young Austrian a dubious pick.
Reinbacher is still only 20 years old, and he has had rotten luck with injuries, but that doesn’t mean he won’t live up to the expectations the organization had when they drafted him so high up. In the season following his draft, he suffered a lower-body injury, which sidelined him for weeks while playing for Kloten in the Swiss A league.
When he returned from the injury, the team was in turmoil, and the coach, Gerry Flemming, was fired; hardly the best environment to develop in especially since Flemming’s presence at the helm of the team was part of the reason why the Canadiens had elected to sent Reinbacher back to the Swiss league for one more season.
Then, at the last training camp, he suffered a devastating knee injury, which robbed him of his first full pro season in North America since an operation was necessary, and he was only ready to return so late in the year. Still, he joined the Laval Rocket for the end of the season and gained valuable experience in the playoffs, registering six points in 13 games.
I fail to see what makes his selection dubious or unlucky. Sure, but dubious? There’s still a long way to go to get there, in my opinion.
As for Hughes’ best trade, Clinton lists the Sean Monahan deal with the Calgary Flames. It’s one of his good ones, given the fact that he also got a first-round pick and acquired another first-round pick when he traded Monahan to the Winnipeg Jets a little over a year later. The pick he originally got from Calgary has yet to be made; it will be the 16th overall selection at the upcoming draft (unless Hughes trades the pick, which is possible). As for the one he got from the Jets, he used it to move up in the draft to grab Michael Hage. So it’s a bit hard to judge just how good the return has been on Monahan.
For me, the trade that made a huge difference so far was sending defenseman Brett Kulak to the Edmonton Oilers for a conditional second-round pick in 2022, William Lagesson, and a seventh-round pick at the 2024 draft. The seventh-round pick became Swedish defenseman Rasmus Bergqvist, and Lagesson spent only a handful of games in the organization, but what about the second-round pick? It became Lane Hutson. To me, getting Hutson out of Kulak is Hughes’ most significant success on the trade market so far.
Finally, Clinton lists Hughes’ trade with the Colorado Avalanche on the eve of the 2023 draft as the worst of his tenure so far. In that deal, the Habs obtained Alex Newhook in exchange for Gianni Faibrother, a first-round pick in 2023 and a second-round pick in the same draft.
Fairbrother played one AHL game in Colorado’s organization and was then sent down to the ECHL. Since then, the Canadian-born blueliner has left North America altogether and is now playing his trade in Slovakia. The first-round pick, Mikhail Gulyayev, a defenseman who signed a three-year contract extension to remain in the KHL. It remains to be seen if he’ll even cross over to this side of the pond.
As for the second-round pick, it was used by the Tampa Bay Lightning to draft right winger Ethan Gauthier after Russ Colton was sent to Colorado in return for the pick. Colton still plays for the Avalanche and has put up 29 points in 61 games this season, which is admittedly better than Newhook’s 26 points in 82 games.
Considering how every part of the trade panned out, I’m not ready to say that was Hughes’ worst trade. I think the Kirby Dach deal was worse. To acquire him, Hughes sent Alexander Romanov to the New York Islanders in return for a first-round pick, which he then flipped to the Chicago Blackhawks along with pick 66 overall. The Hawks selected Frank Nazar with the 13th overall pick and Gavin Hayes with the third-round pick. To me, Nazar is a significant loss, and Dach has yet to show he’s worth that sacrifice.
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