\nThe subject is a yawn, but we had no choice but to broach it with Kent Hughes as part of a 20-minute conversation we held with the
Montreal Canadiens<\/a>\u2019 general manager Tuesday, ahead of the annual NHL GM\/coach meetings.\n<\/div>\n\nWe were far more compelled to hear about Hughes\u2019s outlook on the 2025-26 season \u2014 the things he learned about his team from last season through this summer, his take on Nick Suzuki\u2019s leadership, his excitement for Noah Dobson\u2019s debut, and his expectations for Patrik Laine, Ivan Demidov, Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach \u2014 but the Canadiens remained nearly $6 million above the $95.5-million salary cap ceiling and Carey Price\u2019s name was still flapping around in trade rumours when we started talking.\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd so, with Price entering his third year of being too injured to continue his playing career, and with the last of the money owed to him in signing bonuses finally paid out on Monday, we asked Hughes if we should expect Price\u2019s $10.5-million cap hit to be traded as the way for the Canadiens to not only clear the necessary space but to also create flexibility for future moves.\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cI wouldn\u2019t ever just expect anything to happen, because things don\u2019t always happen when you want them to,\u201d Hughes responded. \u201cBut we\u2019ll continue to explore ways to create cap flexibility.\u201d\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cWe\u2019re fine, we don\u2019t have to trade Carey Price,\u201d he added. \u201cIf we can find a trade to move his contract that makes sense for us and makes sense for another team, we\u2019ll pursue it. But we don\u2019t have to.\u201d\n<\/div>\n
\nYeah, there\u2019s this thing called Long-Term Injury Reserve, and the Canadiens have been using it for Price for most of the last three seasons, and they\u2019ll use it again if they must.\n<\/div>\n
\nWe still think it\u2019s more likely Price moves before the season begins, with the Canadiens spending an asset to deal him to a team closer to the salary cap floor, and we\u2019d go to great lengths to explain why that would be a preferable outcome to once again placing him on LTIR if we weren\u2019t so concerned about your entertainment.\n<\/div>\n
\nBut pucks are flying in Brossard, Que. \u2014 they have been all summer, with several key Canadiens occupying director of development Adam Nicholas\u2019s every waking hour \u2014and excitement in Montreal is swelling over a young team that turned a lot of heads last season, so it\u2019s time to stop talking about the cap.\n<\/div>\n
\nLet\u2019s talk about good vibes because Hughes is feeling them.\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cI think our players really enjoy being together,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that they\u2019re committed to making themselves the best players that they can be individually, but I also think they\u2019ve committed to what I\u2019ve talked about in the past\u2014that if we\u2019re going to grow through a rebuild like we\u2019ve committed to doing, we want our young players to take ownership of the group, of the team, and not just be hyper-focused on their own careers at the younger ages.\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cIn my own experience as an agent, players kind of evolve out of this phase where their focus is really on their own careers and transition to putting their focus on the team. For us to be successful as a young team, we needed those guys to do that earlier than their peers, and we\u2019re seeing signs of that.\u201d\n<\/div>\n
\nHughes said they started to become apparent shortly after a league-worst start to the 2024-25 season was rectified and wins over the four preceding Stanley Cup champions were earned on the team\u2019s post-Christmas road trip.\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThis group grew up a lot,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cThey grew up a lot in the second half of last year. To me, you go into Florida, you play a great stretch of games where, all of a sudden, they started looking around at each other and saying, \u2018Hey, we just beat Florida, Tampa, Vegas and Colorado in four of five games on a road trip, and we played really, really well.\u2019 And then something changed because, for the first time, they had internal expectations that they were going to go do something and not just be playing a particular game trying to catch people by surprise, but actually trying to compete for a playoff spot.\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cI witnessed a lot of players holding individuals and the group accountable and expecting more from each other, and I expect that will carry forward at the start of this year.\u201d\n<\/div>\n
\nBecause head coach Martin St. Louis and his staff have helped foster that type of culture and, as Hughes noted, because Suzuki has helped push it forward.\n<\/div>\n
\nThe captain put the Canadiens on his back last season, notching a career-high 89 points in the process. He stepped into Hughes\u2019s office to tell him to keep the band together ahead of the trade deadline, and then he stepped up on the ice and delivered the fourth-most points in the league over the last quarter of the season to help the team clinch an unlikely playoff berth.\n<\/div>\n
\nIt was a statement that resonated well beyond the Canadiens\u2019 front office.\n<\/div>\n
\nJon Cooper, the Stanley Cup-winning coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning and head coach of Team Canada, heard it.\n<\/div>\n
\nHe was impressed by Suzuki back in 2021.\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019ve seen immense growth from him,\u201d Cooper told us on Tuesday.\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd after hosting Suzuki as one of 42 players at Team Canada\u2019s Olympic orientation camp in Calgary last week, he told us something else.\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThe one thing I didn\u2019t know about him was his personality,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cI made a point to spend time with him in Calgary, and I learned he\u2019s a phenomenal kid. He\u2019s fairly quiet, reads the room, but very engaging when you sit with him one-on-one. I had a great time with him, so that\u2019s just another box checked in the cosmic trajectory of Nick Suzuki.\u201d\n<\/div>\n
\nThe 26-year-old has also taken a leap forward in his role as Canadiens captain, according to Hughes.\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cI think there\u2019s been a real growth in terms of a more active leadership from Nick,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s always been a leader, but I think he\u2019s more comfortable in that role, which is only natural as you get a little bit older. And also, you taste a little bit of success and want to make sure we don\u2019t let that slip through the cracks. He knows it\u2019s going to be hard, and he\u2019s doing his job as a leader to reinforce that to all the players and make sure they\u2019re all doing everything in their power to be ready for the start of the year.\u201d\n<\/div>\n
\nOne player who doesn\u2019t appear to need a nudge in that direction is Demidov.\n<\/div>\n
\nThe fifth overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft burst onto the scene at the end of last season after being unexpectedly released from his KHL contract, and he seemingly hasn\u2019t left the ice since.\n<\/div>\n
\nDemidov\u2019s been doing two-a-day sessions in Brossard five days a week all summer.\n<\/div>\n
\nThe mere mention of his name lit up Hughes\u2019s face on Tuesday.\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cIncredible work ethic,\u201d the GM said. \u201cStubborn, which is great, and he\u2019s a great kid. He\u2019s always smiling, he loves the game, and he\u2019s obsessed with getting better. We\u2019ll see what he can do. I think he\u2019s going to be a very, very good hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens for a long time, but we\u2019re not putting all that hope on him in October of 2025.\u201d\n<\/div>\n
\nYes, yes, the burden must be shared.\n<\/div>\n
\nOne player Hughes would like to see take on more of it is Laine, who produced 15 power-play goals last season but was largely inefficient at five-on-five.\n<\/div>\n
\nGranted, the big Finn, who once topped 44 goals in this league, was recovering from off-season shoulder surgery and skated just three times prior to last year\u2019s training camp, and he was just starting to gain rhythm when he suffered a knee injury that kept him out of the first 24 games of the season.\n<\/div>\n
\nHughes has said before that without all of Laine\u2019s power-play goals, the Canadiens likely would\u2019ve missed the playoffs.\n<\/div>\n
\nBut he said on Tuesday that he knows Laine is capable of more and feels the player, who was on the ice a lot this summer, can make the necessary adjustments to deliver it.\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cPatrik\u2019s an incredibly skilled and talented hockey player. We\u2019ve all seen that from him,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cIn conversations I had with him in exit meetings, and then again\u2014I don\u2019t remember if it was late May or early June\u2014I said to him, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s think about the areas of your game that you need to improve for you to play to more regularly.\u2019\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cI think in Patrik\u2019s case, the answers are so obvious. I firmly believe if he\u2019s able to make those changes to his game, he\u2019s going to have a much better season. And I think he\u2019s 100 per cent on board.\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cOne thing in hockey is the game is so instinctive. I think because of the speed of hockey and the systems within it, a lot just becomes instinctive, which makes it harder to make changes. And that was my purpose in speaking to Patrik. It was to tell him, \u2018Don\u2019t wait until October, when you\u2019re in games and have to rely on instinct. Start now in summer hockey, in development. Every time you step on the ice, be focused on it, ask Adam to talk to you about it, and get him to give you the repetition of doing it right to make these adjustments stick so that you become more conscious of when you\u2019re doing it wrong.\u2019\u201d\n<\/div>\n
\nWe\u2019ll see if all of Laine\u2019s work with Nicholas this summer pays dividends.\n<\/div>\n