HF Habs: Ranking Hughes' moves so far

calder candidate

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Feb 25, 2003
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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

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May 12, 2019
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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

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Jan 18, 2022
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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

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Sep 29, 2017
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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.
 

rahad

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Feb 3, 2016
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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

Go Habs Go
Mar 21, 2002
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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
 
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Whitesnake

If you rebuild, they will come.
Jan 5, 2003
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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.
 
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habbubba

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Jan 19, 2024
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Win some, lose some but how about the moves not done. Didn't, or couldn't or wouldn't move Gallagher, Anderson, Dvorak, others? These are some of the players that some of this fan base has severe disdain for and yet remain part of the lineup.
 

Sorinth

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Jan 18, 2013
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I think hiring Bobrov might very well go down as the best move after that probably trading for Monahan.
 

Beendair Donedat

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Dec 29, 2010
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Win some, lose some but how about the moves not done. Didn't, or couldn't or wouldn't move Gallagher, Anderson, Dvorak, others? These are some of the players that some of this fan base has severe disdain for and yet remain part of the lineup.
How many teams want Gallagher, Anderson or Dvorak??

You can’t just give them away. The Habs would have to pay to be rid of them. Dvorak will be gone or or before the deadline, Gallagher and Anderson you’re stuck with until they’ve burned off a couple more years… or they give up assets with them to move them out - which Hughes won’t (and does not have to at this time) do….
 

LaP

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Jun 27, 2012
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Laine and a 2nd for Harris : A+
4th for Kovacevic : C
1st for a 1st and 2nd : B+
cond 2nd (likely a 3rd) for Allen : B+
1st and cond 3rd for Monahan : A+
3rd round pick for DeSmith : B+
4th round pick for Petry : C
Petry, Desmith, 2nd for Hoffman, Pitlick and a 5th : A+
3rd round pick for Edmundson : B+
Newhook for 1st and 2nd : C- (the trade he did i dislike the most)
Monahan and a 1st for nothing : A+
Matheson for Petry and Poehling : A+
Dach for Romanov and 4th : A-
Barron and a 2nd for Lehkonen : B
2nd and 7th for Kulak : A+
1st for Chiarot : A++
1st and Heineman for Toffoli : B+
 
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jackeymoon

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Jan 16, 2018
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The best:

2 firsts for Monahan
Hoffman for a second + subsequent trades of the other acquisitions for picks
getting rid of Weber's contract
Laine for Harris
Petry for Matheson

The not so great:

Lekhy for Barron (Barron not so great)
2nd Petry trade for Lindstrom (pass on this, can't win them all)
Toffoli for Heineman +++ (pulled the trigger too fast)
Kirby Dach (rather have Nazar)
Overpayment for Newhook
Lehkonen is a hindsight move. Was good value at the time. Barron just hasn't planned out so far. For myself, the Newhook move is the one that leaves a ton to be desired. Never understood the hype and don't think there's a fit going forward. The other questionable one would be trading DeSmith for Pearson but it's not too consequential.

I'm happy with his work thus far, honestly aside from Newhook he's done a fantastic job at stockpiling talent. The only other "miss" was hiring MSL without giving him a veteran bench boss to be an assistant.
 

StreetHawk

Registered User
Sep 30, 2017
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Brett Pesce and Luke Hughes are back for New Jersey, but Jonathan Kovacevic is still playing big minutes for them. Believe he would look good on the Habs blueline right now.
Be it Kov or some other veteran, Habs needed another Veteran Dman. Matheson/Savard are not shutdown Dmen right now or ever. Had to sacrifice seeing the potential of one of X, Barron, struble to get a veteran in that spot. The remaining 2 plus Guhle and Hutson should be your youngsters on the roster. Simply too many and with injuries to the Guhle and the 2 vets, you have kids playing with kids.

Ranking individual moves makes very little sense. Rate his whole design.
I agree. collectively, the team isn't progressing. I think that trio of Dmen, probably all 3rd pairing guys, but ideally should all be playing with a veteran to help them along.
 

Grate n Colorful Oz

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Jun 12, 2007
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He has great draft. Trades average.

He already has a better track record than Bergevin. The only trades that can be argued to be subpar are the Lekhonen trade and the Newhook acquisition, even then, only the former is agreed by most, and neither trade come even close to be a disaster like Drouin was.

Both the Monahan and Laine trade are great trades where he weaponized his cap space to secure a greater asset base, which Bergevin had obliterated. These two trades alone more than make-up for his less stellar moves. He's not average, he's good. He has a few more trades where he'll get much credit later on, like moving up to get Hage.

People bitch about Kova, but it was either him or Matheson, but the latter is the far superior player.
 

LaP

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Jun 27, 2012
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The best:

2 firsts for Monahan
Hoffman for a second + subsequent trades of the other acquisitions for picks
getting rid of Weber's contract
Laine for Harris
Petry for Matheson

The not so great:

Lekhy for Barron (Barron not so great)
2nd Petry trade for Lindstrom (pass on this, can't win them all)
Toffoli for Heineman +++ (pulled the trigger too fast)
Kirby Dach (rather have Nazar)
Overpayment for Newhook
Why to sson to say Toffoli for a 1st (Mesar) and Heineman is not a good trade. Personally i'm not a fan of Nazar so i'd rather have Dach on the wing and find another solution at center.
 

Mrb1p

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Dec 10, 2011
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Be it Kov or some other veteran, Habs needed another Veteran Dman. Matheson/Savard are not shutdown Dmen right now or ever. Had to sacrifice seeing the potential of one of X, Barron, struble to get a veteran in that spot. The remaining 2 plus Guhle and Hutson should be your youngsters on the roster. Simply too many and with injuries to the Guhle and the 2 vets, you have kids playing with kids.


I agree. collectively, the team isn't progressing. I think that trio of Dmen, probably all 3rd pairing guys, but ideally should all be playing with a veteran to help them along.
Who are 3rd pairing?
 

Treb

Global Flanderator
May 31, 2011
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___ Great
Drafting Ivan Demidov
Laine trade
Chiarot trade
Monahan to MTL trade
Monahan to WPG trade
Drafting Slafkovsky
Pick trade and drafting Hage
Hoffman trade
Kulak trade
Petry to Pit trade
Lehkonen trade
Toffoli trade
Edmundson trade
___ Good
Romanov to ISL and Dach to MTL trade
Drafting Reinbacher
Allen trade
Weber trade
Hillis trade
Bonino retain trade
Petry to Det trade
Newhook trade
Kovacevic trade
DeSmith trade
Gurianov trade
Hammond trade to NJ
___ Neutral
Novak trade
Cederqvist trade
McNiven trade
___ Bad
Schnarr trade to LA
Legare trade
Mysak trade
Baddock trade
 

Mrb1p

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Dec 10, 2011
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Citizen of the world
___ Great
Drafting Ivan Demidov
Laine trade
Chiarot trade
Monahan to MTL trade
Monahan to WPG trade
Drafting Slafkovsky
Pick trade and drafting Hage
Hoffman trade
Kulak trade
Petry to Pit trade
Lehkonen trade
Toffoli trade
Edmundson trade
___ Good
Romanov to ISL and Dach to MTL trade
Drafting Reinbacher
Allen trade
Weber trade
Hillis trade
Bonino retain trade
Petry to Det trade
Newhook trade
Kovacevic trade
DeSmith trade
Gurianov trade
Hammond trade to NJ
___ Neutral
Novak trade
Cederqvist trade
McNiven trade
___ Bad
Schnarr trade to LA
Legare trade
Mysak trade
Baddock trade
Ain't no way you got the Reinbacher draft in good
 

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