Could Kent Hughes Give Dubas A Call?

The Pittsburgh Penguins are not have a great year, right now, they have 48 points to their name in 49 games played. They are only two points behind the Montreal Canadiens, but the Habs have only played 46 games and therefore have three games in hand.

If Montreal can keep on winning, it’s unlikely the Canadiens will be sellers at the deadline. GM Kent Hughes has said there’s only so much futures one actually needs, and the Habs have got plenty of draft capital as things stand.

However, not being a seller doesn’t necessarily mean being an all out seller. Still, if RG.org’s report is correct and Kyle Dubas is looking to move some players, Hughes should definitely give him a call. Not because there’s definitely a player the Canadiens should look to grab, but rather because it’s Hughes’ job to look at all possibilities and do his due diligence.

Related: Kent Hughes Mid-Season Review

Whatever Hughes does though, he needs to stick to the plan and not sacrifice the future for immediate gain. Yesterday morning, Global’s Brian Wilde wrote about a trade proposal involving Sidney Crosby. Wilde believes it would take four assets to pry the Penguins’ captain away from Pittsburgh.

I struggle to believe Crosby could want to leave Pittsburgh, even if the Canadiens were his childhood team. The Kid strikes me as the kind of player who will spend his whole career in Pittsburgh. Even if trading for him was a possibility, I’m not sure it would make sense in the Canadiens’ current rebuild. Could scoring winger Rickard Rakell be a possibility?

With three more year left on his contract at $5M per, he could be an upgrade on Alex Newhook. Rakell has 23 goals and 40 points in 48 games so far while Alex Newhook has only got 12 points in 46 games. With Joel Armia, Christian Dvorak and Jake Evans’ contracts coming off the books, it could make sense mathematically, even if the Habs do manage to sign a contract extension with Jake Evans. While Newhook has spent the whole season in the top-six and has a great skills package, results are not in line with expectation and his performance have gone under the radar because all eyes are on Kirby Dach.

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