The Montreal Canadiens’ new general manager, Kent Hughes, said he wants to build a team that will be successful year after year, but to do so, it starts with a very important element according to him: communication.
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“What I have always seen during my career as an agent is that communication is important for the players, he said during an interview with Renaud Lavoie on Saturday evening. I want to create an environment in which people feel part of a family and I’m not just talking about the players in the dressing room, but also those who work in other areas of the organization.
And Hughes has already taken steps in this direction.
“Jeff (Gorton) and I have already met some players and I plan to meet others during the trip,” he admitted. I will tell each of them that they can call me anytime. I also want to speak in priority to the players whose name circulates as a bargaining chip in order to take the pressure off their shoulders.
The 52-year-old Montrealer does not intend to stop there with communication. He wants to talk to supporters more through the media.
“As general manager, I believe that I have no choice but to be available to the media, I want to have a positive relationship with everyone,” he said. We have talked a lot about transparency and there are things that we cannot reveal at certain times, but we will communicate (with the supporters) as much as possible.
A difficult team to assess
The deal deadline will come very quickly for a new GM, but Hughes is aware of the work ahead.
“The context is very important for us to correctly assess a player, he first launched. So it’s a challenge right now with all the injuries that are hitting the team, but hey, it’s our job and it’s like that for all the other GMs of the National Hockey League.
“With all the travel for four days, I haven’t had much time to identify the leaders, but I hope and imagine there are. We’ll see who has leadership here, but we’re going to get some from outside as well.”
In that sense, don’t expect Hughes to do everything in his power to improve the club for the next campaign alone. The objective remains the medium and long term.
“We are not going to sacrifice our vision of having a team that will win year after year to be more competitive next year, he admitted. And our approach (to convince players to come to Montreal in the future) will be to convey our philosophy of knowing where we are going with the Canadiens.
Watch the first part of the interview in the video above.