Ya I'm not a die-hard habs fan, due my heritage I was kind of forced to be one as a kid in the 80's but I've been a critic of Hughes and pretty much every move he's made and not passing on the obvious choice in Demidov doesn't change that.
But while not some watershed moment deal it's better than pretty much anything else he's done.
While thankfully the GM for the team I cheer for has shown he mostly does contracts based on current value, opposed to more futures based, at least this deal didn't go 8×8.
Everyone loves these 8×8++ deals right off an ELC but for me if right away the deal already needs to be defended with phrases like "if he breaks out this will be a steal in 3 years" then for me that's not good deal, especially with dmen because everyone just assumes these kids getting walked in year three will be savants by year five. At least with forwards who score right off the bat can still be stars if their defensive side doesn't pan out. Now giving a forward who's got a career high 30 points or scored 30 once a max deal for 7++ is just asking for buyers remorse.