Grading Kent Hughes a year later on the Montreal Canadiens

On January 19th, 2021, Kent Hughes was hired as the 18th general manager in Montreal Canadiens history. It’s now been a year since his hiring, and Hughes was a very busy man during that time. Just a few months after his hiring, he was tasked with handling the trade deadline, where for the first time in a long time, the Habs were legitimate sellers. Then he had the NHL Draft to deal with, where the Canadiens picked first overall for the first time since 1980. And that’s really just the tip of the iceberg for him.

As is often the case for a General Manager, it’s been nonstop action for Hughes, and with yet another trade deadline just on the horizon, that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. But there will be plenty of time to do that in the coming weeks, but today, we’re going to look back at the last year, and take a closer look at the job Kent Hughes has done.

The list of things Kent Hughes has done is actually quite long, and it can actually be difficult to pinpoint who exactly is responsible for what. In the previous regime, Marc Bergevin served as both the GM and Vice President of Hockey Operations. Now, that job has been divided into two separate roles, one obviously served by Hughes, and the other by Jeff Gorton.

As a result, not every decision could necessarily be Kent Hughes’ idea, as some may be Jeff Gorton’s.  However, seeing as they work in tandem, it seems fair to give both men credit for these moves instead of trying to decipher who deserves credit for each decision.