Le Canadien a obtenu un attaquant lors de la journée de mardi, mais cet attaquant ne se nomme pas Pierre-Luc Dubois.
En lieu et place, le club montréalais a obtenu un autre attaquant, Alex Newhook, de l’Avalanche du Colorado.
L’ancien premier choix (16e au total en 2019) s’amène ici en retour de deux choix du Canadien de premier et de deuxième tour (31e et 37e au total) lors du repêchage de 2023.
Le club montréalais a aussi envoyé à Denver le défenseur Gianni Fairbrother, un joueur du Rocket de Laval qui avait été un choix de troisième tour de l’équipe en 2019.
Kent Hughes a eu de bonnes choses à dire au sujet de sa dernière acquisition.
« Alex nous apporte de la polyvalence, de la vitesse et une force de caractère qui cadre avec ce qu’on cherche à établir, a résumé le directeur général aux médias assemblés à Nashville mardi. Il a aussi l’expérience d’avoir déjà gagné la Coupe Stanley, et si on regarde son passé, c’est un joueur issu du même repêchage que Cole [Caufield] and Kirby [Dach], and this cuvée will probably be one of the best in the history of the National League… we think he still has a lot of potential. »
Newhook, capable of playing center or wing according to Martin St. Louis in Nashville, had 30 points in 82 games last season in Denver.
Regarding Dubois, Kent Hughes did not want to go too far, specifying that the Quebec player does not belong to the Canadiens, and this reality was confirmed a few minutes later, when the Los Angeles Kings were finally able conclude a transaction involving it.
Thus, the Kings obtained Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets, but they had to pay the price. The California club thus passed on to the Jets Gabriel Vilardi, a first round choice of the Kings in 2017, Rasmus Kupari, a first choice of the Kings in 2018, as well as Alex Iafallo, and a second round choice in the 2024 draft.
In the case of Dubois, it is a new 8-year contract which was obtained suddenly, with an average salary of 8.5 million dollars per season.
Moreover, Kent Hughes did not want to go into the details of his day tomorrow in Nashville, the first of the 2023 draft. Impossible, therefore, to know if the Canadian will keep his fifth choice, or if he will try to advance in the order of this highly anticipated repechage.
Another deal? There too, “everything is always possible, added Kent Hughes. Sometimes you get into a discussion not knowing where it’s going, and you can find yourself making a trade…”
The leader of the Canadian also confirmed having met the Russian hope Matvei Michkov.
“He made a good first impression,” said Kent Hughes. His answers were intelligent, mature… we try, as we do with other hopefuls, to know him a little more, to know how he sees himself… he is confident as a player. »
At the end of the conference, Kent Hughes confirmed that negotiations will continue with Denis Gurianov, and he did not close the door on possible returns to the club for Jonathan Drouin and Alex Belzile.