HF Habs: Ranking Hughes' moves so far

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

Agree with all except the Dach trade
Im telling you all he'll turn it around no question

I respect that , i just think the ceiling that people have for him are to high.

 

[calder candidate]

Overpaid for Newhook (he had a shot in COL and couldn’t deliver)
Reinbacher pick still questionnable
Sold low too quickly on Kovacevic
That second Petry trade was a bit of a weird…
People will mention Lehkonen but there no way we were getting more than what we got and some were even giving him away…
The rest of the trade and signing were fairly good even if they didn’t pay off like Chiarot we when from having a lottery pick to 31st… it was a great trade that didn’t yield much in the end.
Just like Laine that played less than 2 games…

 

[RationalExpectations]

To me it is too early to rate most moves individually but collectively this has not been a success. This management team has had 3 TDLs, 3 drafts, 3 FA periods to build a better team. That's plenty of time to change the culture, they communicated on it but never made a big cleaning they should have done. As a matter of comparison Bill Zito arrived at the head of FLA in 2020 he traded for Montour, Reinhart, Bennett in his first year, all in their D+7 that's one year older than the great core of CC Dach Newhook as a matter of comparison.

I liked the idea of reclamation projects in Dach / Newhook to speed up the rebuild who are two players that I really liked at draft time. At the time it was clear Dach had vision and hockey IQ and he could be great if he improves his shot, well he did not in 6 years in the NHL. Right now it does not seem they won that trade.

Trading Toffoli rather than Anderson at the time seemed like a mistake to me and I'll maintain it was, because Hughes is now stuck with that contract. I won't blame him for the Lehkonen trade, he got a 1st and a 2nd, let s see how they develop.

To me it s rather about the moves he did not make than the moves he made, even though I think hiring a non experienced coach to coach a young team is very risky because you risk developping bad habits.

 

[ReHabs]

Not sure what is the purpose or point of these discussions when people can't even agree on the causal links behind various outcomes.

example: Does he get credit for picking up Dach (high potential forward)? Does he lose credit for picking up Dach (injury prone near-bust)?
example: Does he get credit for 'tanking' right and picking 1, 5, and 5? Does he lose credit for not taking right and missing out on Bedard and Celebrini?
example: Toffoli hit 77 points after Hughes traded him away, does Hughes lose credit for misjudging Toffoli's talent and selling him too cheap?

 

[JianYang]

He's doing a good job overall, but this is the easier part.

Accumulating draft capital and youth is a job that most GMs can do well. The hard part is when the organization feels like it's time to turn the corner. That's when it gets hard, and hughes has actually mentioned this himself in different words.

My biggest question about the vision right now is whether they went too youthful on defense, and if that is going to have long term consequences to the team's growth on that end, but in general, it's hard to argue that he has not done a good job so far with what he inherited coming in.

 

[HuGort]

Demidov and Laine could prove gold together next season

 

[rahad]

Im gonna go again on it but passing on Michkov is a F .
No idea why Reinbacher is a top 5 pick anyways , bro doesnt belong in the top 10 of that year draft to begin with

Newhook trade is awful
Never been a fan of Dach trade neither
Loved the TDL moves tho

We kinda lost every trade we made with Joe Sakic. Maybe don't trade with a Colorado in the future?

I agreed with everything you posted. Kent biggest strength is probably signing contract. He did not give any bad contract yet.

Demidov and Laine could prove gold together next season

Yeah, I agreed. We had multiple bad luck from injury.

 

[montreal]

History of NHL trades by the Montreal Canadiens - NHL Trade Tracker

has every trade listed for reference.

Players brought in from oldest trade to newst,

Andrew Hammond
Heineman/Pitlick
Ty Smilanic
Nate Schnarr
William Legasson
Baron
Dadonov
Dach
Matheson
Nicolas Beaudin
Gurianov
Tony Sund
Frederic Allard
Newhook
Petry/Desmith/Legare
Lindstrom
Jan Novak
Pearson
Cederqvist
Perreault
Durandeau
Laine

 

[Whitesnake]

Well.....you have to divide it in 2....time of the move...and result of it. LIke every job that exist on the planet though, you will be judge on the result of it so...

• Laine deal: There's no downside to it. I mean....we got a 2nd rounder on top of it.
• Kovacevic: It,s bad based on what Kovy is doing now and what our defense look like. But on a team who draft for need to get a RD....it's a bad deal.
• Picks to get Hage: Great deal.
• Allen deal: Fine with me. We are not ready to compete. No need to have Allen even if Primeau doesn't succeed. You still can get a vet out there in due time. And you have a 2nd rounder..maybe.
• The Monahan deals: Great deals with no downside especially since we are where we are. OBVIOUSLY we have a use for Money centering a 2nd line though..But all those 1st rounders....congrats.
• Alex Newhook.....well at the time....could have been seen as a great guess. But in due time...that could be a bad deal. Though what could help the Habs could be a year with a weak 2nd round....But David Edstrom would look great in a rebuild....Just David Edstrom for Alex Newhook right now looks bad for us...then you add a 2nd rounder...
• Petry/Poehling for Matheson pick. Good deal no matter how we see it. For what Petry was bringing and despite Poehling solidifying his spot in the NHL though i never had a doubt he would. Role had to be determined.
• Romanov for 1st rounder: Great deal. Romanov value isn't a 1st rounder.
• Dach for 1st and 2nd.....That's Newhook part 2. Though, with a greater sense that there's so much more out there than what we're seeing. And maybe it's because it's on the wings. But there's more chances than the picks are more worth it than Newhook. But then....those picks have WAY MORE CHANCES to hurt us than the Newhook deal. I mean...Nazar, McGroarty, The Swedish trio...Miro...so many potential good players. Still a good deal right now.
• Lehky deal....I was a big Lehky defender. Not a fan of Barron. Still not. And a 2nd rounder. So in essence we got the value of 1st and 2nd....tough to be against. Yet...personnally....I would have chosen a 1st round pick and a prospect value 2nd round. We lost that deal. Though again, the CHANCE that we have is that we are NOT in the mix. Not a Lehky close to do damages. But knowoing the value of that player....we should have done that differently. 1st round pick 2024 and 2nd round pick in 26 or 27 or whatever.
• Chiarot for 1st rounder and 4th? Work of art. Smilanic was a fine addition at the time. Good bet. Didn't materialize. But just a 1st rounder for Chiarot...wow.
• Toffoli for 1st pick and Heineman (in essence)....good one too. Doesn't matter who we picked in the 1st, not the point. The pick itself is great. Heineman was a good bet to make. Still think he has in him to evolve if put in better circumstances.

So in resume, Hughes did a fine job with picks. We can,t really ask better. And AT THE TIME, also like how he targeted players that could define differently on our team. But...as far as players are concerned....let's be honest....aside from Matheson, and Monahan, nobody came and made a difference. We will see about Laine.

Yet, if the guy was brought it for a rebuild and we kinda have put all of our eggs on our recruitement and development team by rackings picks...mission accomplished. Now...will the recruitement and development team do their job? We already have success stories...but it's not enough. It has to continue.