GDT: Kent Hughes Press Conference 1pm Eastern (Link Added)

[BenchBrawl]

Lafleur was not in a draft lottery. I get it, I want Bedard too but it's low % even if we finish in the bottom 5. We can still add building blocks and rebuild through the draft. It doesn't have to be Bedard.

I never said Lafleur was in a draft lottery, and it's irrelevant to my point. It's still a fact that a real, era-defining superstar changes everything and brings a magical quality to a team, and that we haven't had that in over 50 years.

What exactly does it cost for us to tank this year and try our chance at Bedard? This will be our best chance in the next 8 years. HuGo won't be able to tank in 3 years. This is the year to try. We have no chance to compete whatsoever, so let's not try too hard.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Oilers and Toronto both have no cups, yet they both have a more entertaining team to watch and a most promising team than we've ever had since the 90s.

I'd rather take a 18% chance at greatness than a 95% chance to get nowhere. No team has won a stanley cup with a Suzuki and Caufield leading their team. They are both great pieces to have but they're not the superstars you need to beat the 31 other teams.

The thing is its all about balance. We've seen some awful Habs teams punch above their weight for years. Winning more playoff series than full grown Torontonian adults could only dream of. (mostly thanks to goaltending ill give you that)

Now would I rather lose with McDavid or David Deharnais , the answer is obvious but you don't need a generational talent to win a stanley cup

 

[Habs Halifax]

I never said Lafleur was in a draft lottery, and it's irrelevant to my point. It's still a fact that a real, era-defining superstar changes everything and brings a magical quality to a team, and that we haven't had that in over 50 years.

What exactly does it cost for us to tank this year and try our chance at Bedard? This will be our best chance in the next 8 years. HuGo won't be able to tank in 3 years. This is the year to try. We have no chance to compete whatsoever, so let's not try too hard.

Yeah but we are not likely to be bottom 5 again. A lot went wrong last year and the injuries were almost historic. If you want the Coyotes or Blackhawks probability, do something stupid like the Blackhawks... trade Suzuki and Caufield cause they hurt your chances to tank. Trade Eddy and Savard and Allen. Trade them all!

We have gotten emotionally tied to us being a sure shot bottom 5 team. Way too many pieces in place and there will be a bump up next year. Not to the playoffs but they won't be as bad IMO. With or without Dubois.

I guess Bergevin gets blamed for bad vision and Hughes will get that treatment too cause Hughes and MSL have my plan, not yours.

Lafreniere was expected to be a era defining Superstar. J Hughes as well. Easy to diminish it today knowing what you know today. I get it, Bedard looks generational. Dubois does not turn the needle that much bud.

So yeah, we trade Romanov... Should have kept the pick then and not trade for Dach. Dach hurts our chances at 1st OA after the Bedard draft when he develops. See how dumb this sounds?

It will hurt really bad if we finish 4th and a team from 5-10 wins the draft lottery.

The thing is its all about balance. We've seen some awful Habs teams punch above their weight for years. Winning more playoff series than full grown Torontonian adults could only dream of. (mostly thanks to goaltending ill give you that)

Now would I rather lose with McDavid or David Deharnais , the answer is obvious but you don't need a generational talent to win a stanley cup

Agreed. Bruins were cup contenders for years and no 1st OA pick.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Yeah but we are not likely to be bottom 5 again. A lot went wrong last year and the injuries were almost historic. If you want the Coyotes or Blackhawks probability, do something stupid like the Blackhawks... trade Suzuki and Caufield cause they hurt your chances to tank.

We have gotten emotionally tied to us being a sure shot bottom 5 team. Way too many pieces in place and there will be a bump up next year. Not to the playoffs but they won't be as bad IMO. With or without Dubois.

I guess Bergevin gets blamed for bad vision and Hughes will get that treatment too cause Hughes and MSL have my plan, not yours.

Lafreniere was expected to be a era defining Superstar. J Hughes as well. Easy to diminish it today knowing what you know today. I get it, Bedard looks generational. Dubois does not turn the needle that much bud.

So yeah, we trade Romanov... Should have kept the pick then and not trade for Dach. Dach hurts our chances at 1st OA after the Bedard draft when he develops. See how dumb this sounds?

I think we have a decent chance at bottom 5. Our defense is terrible, and our goaltending will probably be terrible as well.

No one is suggesting trading Suzuki or Caufield.

You can tank without being stupid. Just stay put this year and see what happens. At worst, we get the 8th pick or something. No harm done.

Lafrenière and Hughes were not prospects of Connor Bedard's caliber.

 

[Runner77]

Which GMs have ever said more than Hughes has? In fact he was pretty forthright in a lot of things that most GMs wouldn't even entertain. Even his work around on the PLD question was more than most GMs would wager.

And yeah they're gonna keep Petry until the trade makes sense. It's a good thing, they're not willing to retain or pay picks/prospects to move a really good RHD. Petry can live with it and insulate our kids until a team ponies up.

You want him to set assets on fire just to move Petry, why?

He even postponed the presser, so clearly there wasn’t more he could do. He was handcuffed in every which way, so expecting him to achieve an outcome in one or two days, would be beyond the pail.

The presser was short at least and was suitable for where he was at in his dealings with other GMs.

I don’t know what more he could have done. Like you, I don’t see a cause for levelling criticism at this early juncture.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Plenty of good C's in the top 10 next year

We got last and Slaf. People think we will get a bottom 5 pick and get Bedard. The narrative is you won't get him if you don't try. I get it but if you want that, start trading Eddy, Savard, Anderson, and Allen now.

Hughes and Gorton clearly don't have that plan. I guess they will be turned on if we don't finish bottom 5 next year.

The other angle is teams from 5-10 have a 31.5% chance at winning the lotto. Lets say the Coyotes and Blackhawks finish bottom two... that's 39% chance.

Imagine not trading for Dubois cause we want bottom 5 and we finish 4th last and a team from 5-10 wins the draft lottery.

I think we have a decent chance at bottom 5. Our defense is terrible, and our goaltending will probably be terrible as well.

No one is suggesting trading Suzuki or Caufield.

You can tank without being stupid. Just stay put this year and see what happens. At worst, we get the 8th pick or something. No harm done.

Lafrenière and Hughes were not prospects of Connor Bedard's caliber.

I think there is a chance but I believe we end up 5-10 range or 8-12. Dubois in with Dvorak out means 5-15 range.

It's too easy to say today with the Lafreniere/Hughes/Bedard hope. And I like Bedard just as much as you do.

If you want that plan, prepare to be bottom 5 for more than one year. That requires us to do what the Blackhawks are doing and you might have to wait till the next Bedard after him.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

We got last and Slaf. People think we will get a bottom 5 pick and get Bedard. The narrative is you won't get him if you don't try. I get it but if you want that, start trading Eddy, Savard, Anderson, and Allen now.

Hughes and Gorton clearly don't have that plan. I guess they will be turned on if we don't finish bottom 5 next year.

The other angle is teams from 5-10 have a 31.5% chance at winning the lotto. Lets say the Coyotes and Blackhawks finish bottom two... that's 39% chance.

Imagine not trading for Dubois cause we want bottom 5 and we finish 4th last and a team from 5-10 wins the draft lottery.



I think there is a chance but I believe we end up 5-10 range or 8-12. Dubois in with Dvorak out means 5-15 range.

It's too easy to say today with the Lafreniere/Hughes/Bedard hope. And I like Bedard just as much as you do.

I think the reason people aren't as high on dubois right now as you is because we can just get him for free as a UFA.

 

[BenchBrawl]

I have the unshakable impression that Hughes regrets taking this job, based on his body language. I'm not sure why, but I've had this feeling since the draft.

Anybody else getting that vibe?

 

[Miller Time]

with how much the East has loaded up, it bodes well for those that want us to finish bottom-5. Our division will be brutal this year, quite likely the strongest one in the league. So even if the team isn't as "bad" as last year, we could very well still finish with a similarly bad record... best case scenario really (improved play, similar points result).

I thought it likely we'd be a bubble playoff team next year, but with the decision to flip weber for a 5M$ cap hit player that is a pure redundancy (vs sending him to Zona to clear up cap space, or in a deal where we'd actually upgrade an area of need), and downgrading in the present for an asset that could/should improve us long term (Dach for Romanov), both contribute to us having a weaker lineup today than we did at the end of the season.

with no cap room whatsoever and any thought of some magic to add a Letang/Kadri/Giroux level player to the mix, combined with how many East conference teams have improved (while none have regressed significantly), we sit today much closer to bottom-5 finish than in the 10-20 range that may have been feasible.

still a lot of time left before season opener, but hard to see a path forward from today that will keep us from being in the bottom 2-3 of our conference... short of Price healing and posting a Hart-worthy season

 

[Draft]

I have the unshakable impression that Hughes regrets taking this job, based on his body language. I'm not sure why, but I've had this feeling since the draft.

Anybody else getting that vibe?

Nah, looks like a guy in the middle of doing one of the most demanding parts of his job.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Nah, looks like a guy in the middle of doing one of the most demanding parts of his job.

I hope so.

 

[MoneyManny]

Yeah but we are not likely to be bottom 5 again. A lot went wrong last year and the injuries were almost historic. If you want the Coyotes or Blackhawks probability, do something stupid like the Blackhawks... trade Suzuki and Caufield cause they hurt your chances to tank. Trade Eddy and Savard and Allen. Trade them all!

We have gotten emotionally tied to us being a sure shot bottom 5 team. Way too many pieces in place and there will be a bump up next year. Not to the playoffs but they won't be as bad IMO. With or without Dubois.

I guess Bergevin gets blamed for bad vision and Hughes will get that treatment too cause Hughes and MSL have my plan, not yours.

Lafreniere was expected to be a era defining Superstar. J Hughes as well. Easy to diminish it today knowing what you know today. I get it, Bedard looks generational. Dubois does not turn the needle that much bud.

So yeah, we trade Romanov... Should have kept the pick then and not trade for Dach. Dach hurts our chances at 1st OA after the Bedard draft when he develops. See how dumb this sounds?

It will hurt really bad if we finish 4th and a team from 5-10 wins the draft lottery.



Agreed. Bruins were cup contenders for years and no 1st OA pick.

To be the Bruins we have to start by Having a Bergeron, Marchand, Rask, Chara, prime Lucic etc...
We don't have anything in the team equivalent to any of these players. Your example is awful.

We have absolutely nothing to lose right now if we aim to win a lottery, and Suzuki and Caufield won't stand in the way to 1OA, they surely haven't this year.

We're probably looking at starting the season with the ugliest Defense this team has ever seen, no starting goalie and an empty forward group aside from Suzuki and Caufield.

 

[DAChampion]

Why not send Mesar and Slaf to the WJC?

 

[BenchBrawl]

Why not send Mesar and Slaf to the WJC?

He said they weren't going?

 

[DAChampion]

He said they weren't going?

Was posted a few pages ago.

 

[Richard Bolton]

I have the unshakable impression that Hughes regrets taking this job, based on his body language. I'm not sure why, but I've had this feeling since the draft.

Anybody else getting that vibe?

Could be the time to make a thread about it. Maybe something like "I don't see it with Hughes".

 

[BenchBrawl]

Could be the time to make a thread about it. Maybe something like "I don't see it with Hughes".

I have nothing against Hughes, and I wish he'd stay.

 

[morhilane]

I find it odd that they waited for so long to look for an assistant coach. A lot of candidates already found jobs elsewhere, not sure there's quality assistant coach available.

The person they are thinking of hiring might not be from the recycling pool so it doesn't matter.

 

[Mcdonaldz]

Montreal is taking more salary now than they can afford and are taking the worse long term contract. Is that worth a later 1st/ early 2nd? I don't think so.

I would be amaze at how many first round picks you think is needed to sweeten JVR+Risto for Anderson+Petry loll AMaZed

Edit:
saying « we can’t/shoudn’t take the salaries » VS acting like they would need to add are two different things… one more asburd than the other

 

[Walksss]

Lol Scotty Bowman is pushing 90 years old. If thinking a man of that 'experience' is a bad hire and ageism somehow then I guess I'm an ageist?

Is that a word?

 

[Richard Bolton]

I have nothing against Hughes, and I wish he'd stay.

Sorry, it was just a joke about another thread. Never mind!

 

[Captain Mountain]

I would be amaze at how many first round picks you think is needed to sweeten JVR+Risto for Anderson+Petry loll AMaZed

Enough to justify losing Dach or having to pay a 1st to clear an expiring contract.

 

[River Meadow]

I have the unshakable impression that Hughes regrets taking this job, based on his body language. I'm not sure why, but I've had this feeling since the draft.

Anybody else getting that vibe?

Not at all, no...

 

[Mcdonaldz]

Enough to justify losing Dach or having to pay a 1st to clear an expiring contract.

I edited before your response LoI I get the « not taking the salaries » part , maybe I misunderstood

 

[Doc5]

I have the unshakable impression that Hughes regrets taking this job, based on his body language. I'm not sure why, but I've had this feeling since the draft.

Anybody else getting that vibe?

I feel like he always had body language, even if you look back to the PC with him, Molson and Gorton to announce his hiring. It’s the slouched shoulders that gives that impression I think.

He also, said he didn’t want to hire an assistant GM because there’s lots that he has to to learn still. Doesn’t sound like someone that regrets taking on the job to me.