Kent Hughes must no longer respond to calls from the Avalanche.

It will be three years on Saturday since Kent Hughes was named GM of the Montreal Canadiens. The one who will celebrate his 55th birthday next week has had time to accomplish a lot during his early years in the management of the Habs.

He has completed some good trades (Patrik Laine, Alexandre Carrier, Sean Monahan, Mike Matheson, and even Kirby Dach among others), but he has also made some less favorable ones.

Johnathan Kovacevic – who is currently taking Simon Nemec’s place – in return for a simple fourth-round pick…

Ben Chiarot in return for a sacrificed first-round pick, Ty Smilanic, and a fourth-round pick…

But I was analyzing this this morning, and something jumped out at me: Kent Hughes must no longer answer the phone when Chris MacFarland (GM) or Joe Sakic (President of Hockey Operations) calls him.

Why?

Kent Hughes has completed two trades with the Avalanche since he took the helm of the Habs. And it didn’t go very well in those two deals…

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1. He sent Artturi Lehkonen to Colorado in exchange for Justin Barron and a second-round pick that was used to move up in last year’s draft.

Lehkonen has become an impact player in Colorado and has been praised by pretty much everyone in the Avalanche organization.

Justin Barron, however, did not make a significant impact in Montreal, so much so that he was traded a few weeks ago.

Justin Barron never managed to break through in Montreal.
(Credit: X/Twitter)

As for the second-round pick, it has not become an important player for the Montreal organization.

Yes, Kent Hughes managed to work some magic by transforming Barron into Alexandre Carrier, but that doesn’t contribute anything to the initial bad trade involving Lehkonen. And I don’t think Barron will break out in Nashville either…

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2. Kent Hughes sacrificed a first-round pick and a second-round pick to acquire Alex Newhook, who was going nowhere in Denver. Newhook was a former client of Quartexx…

Newhook has an average annual salary of nearly three million dollars, and we still don’t know what his real role is with the Habs. He is not physical, he is not categorized as a defensive player, he plays on the second line, but he is not producing points (only 10 in 43 games)…

When Ivan Demidov arrives next year, Newhook will be relegated to the third line. But is he really a bottom six guy? Can he develop in short-handed situations, among other things? We’ll see.

In short, all this to say that Kent Hughes would be better off not answering his cell if the Avalanche calls him before the trade deadline.

It’s better to take calls from the Jets, Penguins, Predators, Blue Jackets, and Blackhawks as a priority.

Sometimes, there are relationships that fit less well than others. Or through which you never come out ahead.

His relationship with the Avalanche falls into that category for Kent Hughes…

Quick Hits

– No surprise here.

– Lane Hutson among the best players aged 23 or younger who are not first-round picks. [NYT]

– When is retirement coming?