BROSSARD – Kent Hughes recognizes that there is no perfect answer to frame the evolution of Juraj Slafkovsky or the use of veterans while development remains the priority. Everything becomes a question of balance.
Here is the learning retained by Hughes who celebrates his first anniversary as general manager of the Canadian, a position scrutinized.
On the one hand, there is the desire to rebuild this organization with a winning culture. On the other, there is the immense temptation to add an extraordinary prospect like Connor Bedard to the draft.
“I was telling Martin (St-Louis, the coach) that wins are good up to a point, but losses are not good up to a point,” Hughes said with a smile.
“I believe a lot in team culture, unlike betting on a club that cannot win, where accountability does not exist and the players do not know how to win,” continued the DG.
This file is reacting to supporters while many claim that the Canadian offers too much use to veterans to the detriment of the next generation.
“I imagine there are discussions happening at the 32 NHL clubs about this. I’ve spoken to several experienced CEOs about what they’ve been through. We all discuss it internally, but we will always allow coaches to make decisions about players and their partners. Just like at the trade deadline (March 3), we want their perspective on the players, but it’s the management group that will make the trade decisions,” Hughes said.
“We know we don’t have a team to win every game, but we expect players to show up to win every game. It would be different to tell them, we are no longer capable of obtaining victories, we are just going to let the young people play. I think we would lose the team, the room, ”said the manager.
This makes us say that the discussions must be interesting between the hockey departments of the Habs. Moreover, Hughes takes his greatest pride in seeing the assembled group – while specifying that he inherited several employees – and the conversations that take place internally to argue soundly.
The management of the club, it is often through coaching that people evaluate it. Even with his career as a player, St-Louis does not escape criticism. Some find that he does not care enough about defense, that his teachings are not tactical enough or that he turns too often to veterans to win games.
“I would tell you that we are going to go through phases in building this club and we could have different expectations of the coaches (depending on the stage). Our coaches have little experience, but not as players and they are all very intelligent, we are able to have conversations. I would tell people to be patient and we have been defending better since the end of the difficult trip,” commented Hughes.
No perfect answer for Slafkovsky
As we learned that Slafkovsky’s season (left knee) is over, Hughes explained his vision for his development.
In a very frank way, the DG admits that no one knows the recipe since each athlete is different. Hughes, a trainer at heart, particularly wanted to keep him in Montreal so that he could observe his progress more closely.
The ultimate goal of the CH remains to teach Slafkovsky to adapt his game to the style of the NHL to become a power there. Except that it is far from easy to change the habits of an athlete and he served this analogy.
“It’s like asking someone to change the way they walk while juggling balls on the highway without getting hit by a car. Hockey is a reaction sport that goes so fast,” he said.
In short, the organization is not worried about his production because he manages to assimilate lessons, he has great confidence and he does not allow himself to be affected from match to match by his mistakes.
