Before he was hired as the 18th General Manager in Montreal Canadiens history, Kent Hughes was also, as we all know, a player agent. What many do not know however, is that he was also a coach. For the Boston Junior Eagles of the AAA U16 league to be more precise.
Hughes was Boston’s coach for 4 seasons before joining the Canadiens management team. He led the team to two state championship appearances. He was mainly responsible for players born in 2005 and 2006.
Congratulations to 2X Massachusetts Hockey National Bound State Championship Coach Kent Hughes with the new position with the @CanadiensMTL! https://t.co/9eIfM04Fp2 pic.twitter.com/Yvz2OOX2mV
— Massachusetts Hockey (@Mass_Hockey) January 18, 2022
Hughes made his mark with the team gaining a tremendous amount of respect as a person and was more often than not called a great mentor. When he left the team, it was announced that Hall of Fame defenceman Brian Leetch will be joining the team next season as the new coach.
We knew it would be a tall task replacing long time Head Coach Kent Hughes but landing NHL Hall Of Fame defenseman Brian Leetch is a monumental win! Welcome to your new team Coach Leetch!@NEHockeyJournal @MYHockeyRanking @_Neutral_Zone @Mass_Hockey
— Former 2005 Boston Junior Eagles (@former05_BJE) February 15, 2022
🦅🦅🦅 https://t.co/Nhdi8VUouG
Hughes made a promise when he left the team that if they were to qualify for the Chipotle U16 Tournament in Detroit, that he would come back and coach them one last time for the tournament. A promise that he is holding.
After being named the newest @CanadiensMTL GM, Kent Hughes was adamant that he was going to finish the journey with his @BostonJrEagles!#USAHNationals
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) March 31, 2022
Kent Hughes is in Detroit area at the Chipotle Hockey tournament. He was coaching the Boston JR Eagles (U16) before being name GM of the @CanadiensMTL but promise his players he’ll coach them at the tournament this week. Just a great story for everyone involved.
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) March 30, 2022
This is an absolutely fantastic story in every sense. It further shows Hughe’s generosity as a person and the kids get their old coach back, who they admire so much, and not to mention that they will be able to have immediate insight of life in the NHL. They will have that twofold next season when Brian Leetch takes the helm.
Fun fact: Kent Hughes coached Jordan Harris when the latter was playing elite Pee-Wee in the Boston area. Hughes not only has many connections with current players through his experience as an agent, but it seems as time goes we are discovering that he had an impact on many current prospects as well during his time as a coach.
It’s becoming more clear as to why Kent Hughes was a favorite for the GM job to begin with.
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