Kent Hughes’ Canadiens-Flames Trade Emerges as Top Move

The Montreal Canadiens just turned one smart gamble into pure gold.

Kent Hughes’ decision to take a chance on Sean Monahan in August 2022 has paid off in ways nobody saw coming. The deal started simple enough – help the Calgary Flames clear salary cap space and get a first-round draft pick in return.

But that was just the beginning.

Monahan, who’d been struggling with injuries in Calgary, showed up in Montreal ready to prove himself. He didn’t just play well – he became a mentor to the team’s younger players and helped drive the offense.

The Flames had been desperate to sign Nazem Kadri and needed to dump Monahan’s contract fast. That’s where Hughes stepped in.

What happened next was pretty amazing. After getting that first first-round pick just for taking Monahan’s contract, Hughes managed to re-sign him to a team-friendly one-year deal when he became a free agent.

Then came the masterstroke.

Hughes just flipped Monahan to the Winnipeg Jets for another first-round pick. That’s two first-round draft picks for essentially helping another team with their salary cap problems.

It’s the kind of shrewd management that can help rebuild a franchise. The Canadiens turned someone else’s salary cap headache into a pair of valuable draft picks – and got some solid hockey out of Monahan in the process.

For a team working on getting back to its glory days, this might be the best series of moves Hughes has made since taking over as GM.