On August 19, Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes traded Jordan Harris to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Patrik Laine and a draft pick. It was a trade that was a statement of intent of what management wanted this season to be. The rebuild wasn’t over, and expectations weren’t through the roof, but there was a stated goal of improvement on the ice, and Laine’s addition was to help that.
By now you know what happened. It took until December 3 for Laine to make his debut with the Canadiens. At that time the Canadiens were last in the Eastern Conference, and one point out of last in the entire league. The stated goal was openly mocked. I wrote at the time that Laine shouldn’t be expected to turn things around on his own, but he could help the vibes and by extension help the team’s performances.
I may have undersold it.
The team has gone 9-4-0 since his return, but that wasn’t the only move the team made.
On December 18, Hughes traded Justin Barron to Nashville for Alexandre Carrier. On December 27, they recalled Jakub Dobeš from the Laval Rocket and said they would be placing Cayden Primeau on waivers.
Both of those moves were made with the same thing in mind: The team was not playing well enough, these were two positions where improvement could be found, and the message was that management expects the team to perform better. They were willing to sacrifice younger players they had bet on in order to improve the team’s outlook. (Obviously, Primeau cleared waivers and remains in the organization)
Since Carrier’s acquisition, the team is 5-1. Since Dobeš was recalled, they are 3-0. Contributions are coming from the new players, yes, but they are also coming from up and down the lineup. Almost everyone in the lineup has contributed to the team’s recent run and that’s by design.
Kent Hughes showed confidence in his group when he acquired Laine this summer. After being patient through the early part of the season, Laine’s debut led to a new stage of the season and potentially even the rebuild. The team repaid him with their best stretch of the season.
Don’t look now, but the Canadiens are among the hottest teams in the league, and for the first time in what feels like a long time, they are closer to a playoff position than they are to last place in the division. I am not sitting here and saying they will make the playoffs, it is just a statement of fact about the team’s current run.
Hughes has been adamant that he will not sacrifice the future plan for quick success, and he has stuck true to that even through some pretty rough stretches. If you look at some of the rebuilds that didn’t work, you can point to organizations that potentially weren’t focused enough on the results on the ice.
At a certain point in the rebuild you have to expect better. That’s what Kent Hughes did, and the players are repaying that.
