General manager Kent Hughes is aware that the Montreal Canadiens find themselves in a delicate position, as they try to build a team that will have long-term success while ensuring that they maintain a positive environment for the development of young people. players.
Hughes gave a mid-season update on Wednesday, as the day also marked the one-year anniversary of his appointment.
The Canadian surprised at the start of the campaign, before experiencing a painful slip during his holiday trip. Head coach Martin St-Louis seems to have raised the bar for a few games.
Nonetheless, the Habs were 26th overall in the NHL standings heading into Wednesday’s games, by virtue of a 19-23-3 record.
“I told Martin this year that we’ve gotten to the stage where wins are good up to a point and losses aren’t good up to a point,” Hughes admitted. I strongly believe in team culture. I don’t believe in the mentality of putting a team on the ice that can’t win. »
This does not mean, however, that the development of the young elements of the team is not among the priorities.
Hughes spoke at length about the development of Juraj Slafkovsky, the team’s first pick in the last draft. However, the Habs also announced Wednesday that the 18-year-old Slovak will be sidelined for the next three months with a knee injury. Everything indicates that his season is over.
Overall, Hughes said he was happy with the group’s progress.
“What impresses me the most, and I’ve noticed it with all the players, is maybe they’ll make a mistake or play a bad game and then we’ll start to think it’s getting harder. for the player, but he’s going to bounce back and have his best moments of the season,” Hughes said, citing veterans like Joel Armia and Evgenii Dadonov as examples.
“Yeah, we played badly over the holiday season. There has been a downturn in the team, he admitted. But everyone reacted. The coaches reacted. And look yesterday, despite the injuries, we played a good game against the Winnipeg Jets, when everyone expected a tough game. »
Decisions to come
Everyone expects to see veterans jump ship in the coming weeks as the March 3 trade deadline approaches. Hughes wouldn’t elaborate on the state of the market, but pointed out that there isn’t a lot of trading across the NHL these days.
He said he wants to keep his players informed of every situation by always having his office door open.
Players like Josh Anderson, Sean Monahan, Joel Edmundson and Jake Allen could interest teams in the hunt for the playoffs. Hughes acknowledged that the team has a surplus of left-handed defensemen.
“If a trade comes along that gives us pick or depth in a position where we have less of it, (then) we’ll evaluate it,” Hughes said. But we don’t need to trade. Again, it’s a question of balance. »
Hughes, however, assured that there was no question of turning only to young people “since victory does not matter”.
“We expect players to come out to win every game, even though we know we don’t have a team that’s going to win every game,” Hughes said. But that’s different than saying that we are no longer able to win and that we just play young people. I think we would lose the locker room. »
So Hughes will continue to navigate between what’s good for long-term team development — stocking up on hopes and draft picks, as well as sliding down the standings to boost his lottery chances for the first pick — and victory.