Montreal Canadiens: Three Questions Kent Hughes Needs to Answer Before Trade Deadline

The Montreal Canadiens made one of the first big splashes of trade season when they dealt Tyler Toffoli to the Calgary Flames.

They received a first round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft as well as prospect Emil Heineman, veteran Tyler Pitlick and a fifth round pick in return. The trade was done over a month ahead of the trade deadline and it looked like it might signal a busy few weeks for the Canadiens.

Their new general manager Kent Hughes took over a ship that was stuck at the bottom of the NHL standings and had his work cut out for him to try and right things.

Though the early Toffoli trade appeared to be a sign of things to come, the only trade the Canadiens made since then was the obvious deal involving Ben Chiarot. A pending unrestricted free agent with a ton of value on the market was eventually dealt to the Florida Panthers for a first round pick, Ty Smilanic and a fourth round pick.

When Toffoli was dealt, some fans thought we may be on the verge of a fire sale. Who was going to be next? Josh Anderson? Brendan Gallagher? Jeff Petry? Was Carey Price on the market as well?

We certainly haven’t seen the sell off as Hughes has been pretty quiet over the past five weeks.

It leaves him with a lot of questions to answer as we arrive here at trade deadline day. Let’s take a look at the three big questions that Hughes needs to answer by 3:00 PM EST this afternoon.