Montreal Canadiens: Kent Hughes Keeping Focus On Future

The Montreal Canadiens have been really bad for the past two seasons. A surprise run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final was followed up by a last place finish and then a bottom five finish in 2022-23.

The team has traded away several veteran players and the roster looks almost unrecognizable compared to the one that made it within three wins of taking home the 25th Stanley Cup in franchise history.

There are a few core pieces in place with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki locked up on long term deals. There is also a group of young defenseman that included five rookies who played regularly last season. The future does appear bright and another top five pick will just help in that regard.

The team is also apparently considering acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois this offseason. If they were to do that, a young group of forwards that also includes Kirby Dach could start to push the team closer to playoff contention in 2024.

The team is not ready to compete quite yet, and acquiring Dubois could come at a significant cost of future assets. There is a debate to be had about whether they should trade for Dubois now or just hope he becomes a free agent a year from now and signs here then. That would require some more patience and some risk as it is possible he signs long term somewhere else in the meantime.

While acquiring Dubois would sort of push the rebuilding process forward, TSN Insider Darren Dreger reports the Canadiens are keeping their eyes on the future with all of their decisions this offseason.

Dreger explains the Canadiens are in on a lot of things and could be a big player on the trade market, but everything has to make sense long term. That includes the potential acquisition cost of Dubois.

This is good news for Canadiens fans. The team is in no position to start trading away draft picks and prospects to try and get better in 2023-24. They have to slow play this rebuild and take their time to do it properly. Keeping an eye on the future might actually cost them Dubois, but only if the asking price from the Winnipeg Jets would greatly impact the Canadiens future anyway.

In all likelihood, this means the Canadiens won’t have the best offer on the table for Dubois, but that’s okay. They need to keep their focus on the long term build and can’t try to take shortcuts by trading picks and prospects that could help them out in the near future when they are closer to ready to actually contend for a playoff spot.

In what is likely the most wild time of year in the NHL, it is good to hear that Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes is keeping calm and focused on building this organization the right way.

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