March 8, 2025
On Friday, March 7th, Trade Deadline Day for the 2024-25 season came and went and the Montreal Canadiens did exactly nothing. For the first time in his tenure, General Manager Kent Hughes failed to capitalize on an important window of change for the Habs.
The extension for Jake Evans is something.
We can agree that Hughes used the window by sticking to his original offer with the deadline approaching. We can also argue that the culture Hughes and Jeff Gorton have built in Montreal were contributing factors to Evans leaving money on the table. That was undeniably a tidy bit of business.
The Evans extension also contributes to the head-scratching. That move should have been read one of two ways. Either it was just a good contract decision that shouldn’t take away from the bigger plan to maximize assets during the rebuild, or it signalled the Habs would be (at least to some degree) buyers at this deadline.
At the end of the day, it’s not clear that this transaction affected the plan for the deadline at all.
A reward for five wins is really something.
Did I mishear Hughes? Did he say it looked like they were sellers heading into the Four Nations break, but then Nick Suzuki took him up on the challenge to win some games? Did all of this really hinge on a six-game stretch between 4N and deadline day?
Hughes said he wanted to reward his team for what they’ve done so far. Excellent. Reward them for staying in the mix, albeit still outside of playoff contention, deep into the season when the games still matter. I’m waiting for the reward! Show me what’s behind doors 1, 2, or 3… any door will do.
Oh? There’s no door? The reward is status quo? The reward is that you get to spend 20 more games working your bags off to stay in the mix and likely fall short because we all know you’re not quite ready to be playoff-competitive yet.
What kind of crazy ass reward is that?
And how does this reward end? Does Dvorak get a new deal because of his bromance with Caufield? Will they extend Savard so we can see more big hugs for the goalies? Will we give Armia another multi-year deal so we can eventually enjoy the benefits of another UFA year?
Was this really the reward Suzuki was after? Doubtful.
It wasn’t fair to expect something that is better suited to the off-season.
I mean, the Sens did it, but it’s not reasonable to expect everyone would. We don’t know what Buffalo was asking from the Habs for Dylan Cozens, and we also don’t know landing him would have been the best plan for Montreal. It’s not fair to be upset today that Cozens won’t line up with Laine and Newhook tonight.
As fun as it would have been to add a big fish yesterday, in all likelihood Hughes was wise to not pay exorbitant prices for the solution at second-line centre, which is the hole they desperately need to fill. The most optimistic takeaway from Friday’s press conference is that Hughes feels they started conversations on deals they can pick up in the off-season.
Hughes has truly maximized the draft window during his tenure. That’s when the magic will happen. As I have said before, not every swing has to be a home run – sometimes you win with small ball.
The move I expected from Hughes yesterday was the smallest upgrade at 2C to help his team down the stretch. He didn’t have to land Cozens to send a more meaningful reward than he did. The cost in assets wouldn’t have been more than he could have recovered in another deal.
There are some things we just don’t know.
We don’t know what offers were on the table for Montreal’s UFAs. Was Winnipeg prepared to give as much for Savard as they did for Schenn? Was the offer for Armia closer to Tanev or Sprong? At the end of the day, we may have over-valued our assets and there may not have been deals worth making.
If that was the case, it would have been really nice to get that hint from Hughes. We heard from him that the prices he would have to pay to add didn’t make sense, but we didn’t really hear the offers for his own guys weren’t consistent with the sellers market we were seeing.
Something… anything… would have been better than nothing,
I’m not advocating for a Marc Bergevin approach where a couple of meatheads are added for late round picks and then you tell us in the presser that if you make it to the playoffs anything can happen. I appreciate the clarity from Hughes that they all know this is not their year to be genuinely competitive.
I’m also not advocating for over-spending on a rental that doesn’t move the needle enough and results in a waste of assets. But Hughes is a creative guy, and even Bergevin was able to pull off Vanek and Petry. I genuinely believe the Habs GM could have added a meaningful piece yesterday without breaking the bank.
But he chose not to add a thing, and also chose not to sell a thing, and called the thing that remained a reward. And that’s where we’re all left scratching our heads.
Hab At Her 