New GM Kent Hughes has a difficult job rebuilding Canadiens in loaded Atlantic Division - The Boston Globe

In his first comments to Montreal reporters, Kent Hughes compared the allure and prestige of the Canadiens to that of the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys.

He was spot-on. The Yankees’ last World Series win was in 2009. The Cowboys haven’t won the Super Bowl since the 1995 season. The Canadiens’ titles, too, are blanketed with dust.

The Stanley Cup drought in Montreal will reach 29 years this spring. They’ve won 13 playoff rounds in that time.

Including last year’s surprise run to the Cup Final, when they emerged from the all-Canadian division and were whipped by the Lightning in the bubble, the Habs have gone to the conference finals three times since their ‘93 Cup win. They’ve had 11 coaches, and changed coaches eight times during a season.

Hughes, who settled in Westwood and became a player agent after his days as a Middlebury College captain, is the latest general manager to get a shot at resurrecting the franchise. The 52-year-old first-time GM will attempt to do what predecessors Rejean Houle, Andre Savard, Bob Gainey, Pierre Gauthier, and Marc Bergevin could not.

“The word doesn’t matter to me — whether it’s rebuild, reset — my vision is to build a team that can win for years,” Hughes said.

First comes the roster assessment, and the decisions to be made before the March 21 trade deadline. The Canadiens’ best chip is defenseman Ben Chiarot, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. He could bring an early-round pick, given contenders’ annual needs for veteran defensemen. The Habs won’t be as active in the contract-laundering business, since they have big money tied up in Shea Weber (nearly $7.86 million) and Carey Price ($10.5 million) through 2026. Weber’s long-term injured reserve status and Price being in the player assistance program clouds matters.

The draft, which will be held in Montreal, will generate excitement. If the lottery ball bounces their way, adding top prospect Shane Wright, of OHL Kingston, would give the Canadiens renewed hope that they’ve finally found a No. 1 center. They thought they had one in Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who is thriving as a secondary piece in Carolina.

Wonder how it would be received if the Habs drafted Hughes’s son, Northeastern freshman Jack Hughes. A creative forward (and no relation to Quinn, Jack, and Luke Hughes), he is rated as a late-first-round pick.

Marc Bergevin was fired in November after a decade in charge of the Canadiens without a championship.Paul Chiasson/Associated Press

In the introductory news conference, Canadiens owner Geoff Molson denied there was cronyism in the Hughes hire. Molson said he wanted Hughes for his vision. New executive vice president Jeff Gorton, who has known Hughes some 20 years, said they have had a good working relationship but don’t socialize outside of hockey.

“Nobody would want any of my best friends to be running the Montreal Canadiens,” Gorton joked. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”

Gorton, of Melrose and Bridgewater State, first worked closely with Hughes when negotiating Patrice Bergeron’s entry-level contract in 2003. The former Bruins assistant GM admired the bilingual Hughes, who grew up on Montreal’s West Island, and the two bounced ideas off each other.

While Gorton was rising to Bruins interim GM and later Rangers GM (for whom he drafted Hughes’s older son, Riley, in 2018), Hughes was building one of hockey’s highest-profile sports agencies. MFive Sports, which he started with now-retired Anton Thun, merged with Quartexx Management in 2016.

In recent years, Hughes has sealed deals for Kris Letang (eight years, $58 million in 2014), Bergeron (eight years, $55 million that same year), and Darnell Nurse (two years, $11.2 million in 2020). According to PuckPedia, Hughes clients are on 15 NHL rosters. If the list of his 21 active clients included one more goalie instead of a forward, Team Hughes could suit up en masse as a team.

“It’s very well deserved,” Bergeron said of Hughes’s hiring. “I’m super happy for him. He’s been with me since the beginning. Sad to see him go as my agent. But still going to be a friend and wish him all the best. Super-smart hockey mind. Loves the game. I think he was excited for the challenge. Best of luck to him. I know he’s going to be great.”

Bergeron, who joked that his new agent would be “me, myself, and I,” is staying with Quartexx and Philippe Lecavalier, as is Letang.

Of course, with Bergeron’s longtime agent now GM of the Canadiens, and the assistant GM who helped draft him (Gorton) now executive vice president, some connected the dots on Bergeron, a UFA-to-be, returning home to finish his career. He grew up in Charny, a Quebec City suburb about three hours northeast of Montreal.

Doubt it. But it would go a long way to fixing the Habs, who are up against it in a loaded Atlantic Division.

Tampa Bay’s core is going nowhere. Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, and Andrei Vasilevskiy will be together for at least three more years. Under contract for one more year, at least: Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn, Corey Perry, Mikhail Sergachev, and Erik Cernak. Until otherwise proven, the Lightning are the standard.

This certainly looks like Florida’s year. It’s hard not to think about a rematch of the 1996 Stanley Cup Final with Colorado, which would be a heck of a lot more compelling than that dud of a series. No one in Sunrise needs a reminder that ‘96 was the last time the Panthers won a playoff round. If they are able to knock off the Lightning in an Alligator Alley series, Cup fever will be running wild.

Those looking for signs that the Panthers are a paper tiger might point to their home-road splits — they entered Friday’s game at Vancouver 21-3-0 at home and 6-5-5 on the road — and wonder if they can get it done when it counts. A 5-1 loss at Calgary on Tuesday did little to deter that line of thinking. But the Panthers bounced back in Edmonton on Thursday with a 6-0 win.

Since returning from the holiday break, the Panthers were 9-1-1 and averaging nearly six goals (5.54) per game.

If there’s a way to add, especially on defense, they should. It would be a coup to pull Jakob Chychrun out of Arizona, especially if they can entice the Coyotes to shave a bit off Chychrun’s already-low cap hit ($4.6 million through 2025). Chychrun, who grew up in South Florida a few years after that 1996 run, would no doubt sign up for that.

With teams like the Maple Leafs — loaded with talent like Auston Matthews (left) and Mitch Marner — to contend with, the Canadiens are playing catch-up.Frank Gunn/Associated Press

A bit of a pressure point: Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov’s extension kicks in next season, turning him from one of the league’s biggest bargains ($5.9 million) to a market-value $10 million man.

You know the deal in Toronto, which has the Auston Matthews-John Tavares-Mitch Marner-William Nylander group signed for at least three more years.

The Maple Leafs made their choice on top defenseman Morgan Rielly, locking him up for eight years at $7.5 million per. How much can they pay UFA-to-be netminder Jack Campbell, who’s having a Vezina-caliber season? As long as they keep hitting on bets such as Michael Bunting (24 points in 37 games for $950,000) and Ondrej Kase (17 points in 30 games for $1.25 million), they’ll have a few bucks free.

They’d have to clear space to add, but if you’re the Maple Leafs, don’t you have to go all-in?

The Bruins are a solid team. Are they more? Adding a true No. 2 center would help Bergeron and Tuukka Rask get another shot. Getting something for Jake DeBrusk, whether it’s a package deal for Tomas Hertl in San Jose, or straight up for another player looking for a fresh start, is probably their best option.

The Red Wings are in the best shape of any of the Atlantic rebuilders, with Calder Trophy candidates at three positions (winger Lucas Raymond, defenseman Moritz Seider, goalie Alex Nedeljkovic) and lots of cap space. Someone might want Vladislav Namestnikov, Danny DeKeyser, or Nick Leddy as a rental. They could be players by laundering someone else’s bad contract.

Though Steve Yzerman probably wants to see what his group is made of, it could be wiser to stop chasing a wild-card spot.

The best recent news for Buffalo is that Rasmus Dahlin seems to be putting it together. The Sabres have three first-round picks (their own, Florida’s, Vegas’s) and need to keep surrounding the 21-and-under group of Dahlin, Dylan Cozens, Payton Krebs, and Jack Quinn with talent. They’ve got enough cap space to make the market move at the deadline.

As for Ottawa, we’re officially in the time of “unparalleled success” owner Eugene Melnyk promised. In 2019, Melnyk proclaimed that his team would spend close to the cap from 2021-25. Entering the weekend, they were T-31 in the league.

A good start: naming Brady Tkachuk captain and locking him up through 2028. Tim Stützle, Thomas Chabot, Josh Norris, and Drake Batherson are a solid under-24 core. With six picks in the first three rounds, including Boston’s third-rounder from the Mike Reilly trade, the Senators will be stacking more chips this spring.

They’re worse off in net than Buffalo, which at least can project Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as a starter down the road. Ottawa just hopes Matt Murray ($6.25 million a year through 2024) can give it something.

Like most every team nowadays, Hughes wants “an offensively minded hockey club” that plays a fast, possession game. In making that a sustainable reality, others have failed before.

QUICK ON THE DRAW

How important are faceoffs?

Is winning the draw battle as important as we think?David Becker/Associated Press

I’ve heard an argument that faceoffs don’t matter, that the possession of the puck a team gains from winning the draw is too fleeting to make an impact in the overwhelming majority of instances.

I’m willing to entertain the argument, given how the puck can bounce. Even-strength draws don’t typically change a game. On special teams and in close situations, they could. A key defensive-zone draw in the final minutes is make or break.

“I think it’s an integral part of whether you win or lose,” said former NHL referee Tim Peel, who retired last year after working more than 1,300 regular-season and 90 playoff games. “I’ve watched games where teams cannot get control of the puck because they can’t win faceoffs. It’s going to be the difference in whether you make the playoffs. It’s vital.”

This season, we’ve seen two of the most lopsided faceoff results since the NHL began tracking those numbers in 1997-98. The Maple Leafs won 80.4 of their draws on Nov. 18 against the Rangers, becoming the third team on record to surpass 80 percent in a game. They won that game, 2-1.

Toronto also connected for 75.9 percent against those same Rangers on Oct. 18, which ranks 11th among faceoff percentages from the tens of thousands of games since 1997-98. The Leafs lost that game, 2-1, in overtime.

In a Wednesday rematch on Broadway, Toronto was 81.8 percent on draws and had a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes, but had a 6-3 loss at the end. Faceoff edge: 55 percent.

Those who take faceoffs will tell you it matters a lot, how it’s a team effort, an example of wingers working hard and defensemen reading the play and all the intricacies of the gig. It’s not as exciting as scoring goals, but if you have the puck off the draw, that’s a good way to score.

Unquestionably, the Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron, who entered the weekend with a league-best 62.5 percent success rate, remains the standard.

“He prepares himself so well,” Peel said. “I guarantee you he knows the tendencies of every linesman in the league. As much as every linesman should drop the puck the same way, it’s impossible. Every linesman has a tendency. It’s the way they hold the puck in their hands, the way they present it. Some have a tell sign. He wins a lot of draws because he’s quick, but he also knows how to push the line as far as he can before he gets thrown out.”

Bergeron and the Blues’ Ryan O’Reilly are the best faceoff guys in the league, in Peel’s view, as well as the top center in Pittsburgh.

“Sid the Kid, for sure,” Peel said of Sidney Crosby. “Mario [Lemieux] would just put his stick down, look very nonchalant, but his hands were so quick that he would win almost every faceoff. Guarantee Sid learned a lot from Mario on that.

“Phillip Danault is really good in Los Angeles. He proved that last year in Montreal. [Tyler] Bozak with the Blues. There’s a role for those guys in the league as they get older.”

Ovechkin isn’t slowing down

Alex Ovechkin, 36, remains as prolific as ever.Patrick Smith/Getty

Those close to Alex Ovechkin assumed he would chase Wayne Gretzky’s record while working from home. The Ovi Office, that left circle area, is still a dangerous place when No. 8 checks in.

But he’s doing so much more, and having an MVP season to boot.

The 36-year-old, held scoreless by the Bruins on Thursday, still entered Friday No. 1 in the league in goals (27) and points (56). If he holds off Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, and the rest of the field, Ovechkin would be the second-oldest player to win the Art Ross Trophy (about a month older than 36-year-old Bill Cook, in 1933; Martin St. Louis, 37 in 2013, holds the graybeard record).

Ovechkin could become the oldest 50-goal scorer ever. No one has ever hit 50 at age 36. Johnny Bucyk scored 51 goals at age 35 in 1970-71.

What’s more, Ovechkin was averaging 21:54 of ice time, fourth among forwards, and leading the league in even-strength goals (18). He’s also on pace for his highest assist total, and first 50-assist season, since 2011. He’s not just a power-play goal machine, at least not yet.

There has never been a 36-year-old Hart Trophy winner. Herb Gardiner (1927) and Eddie Shore (1938) were 35 when they were MVPs. Considering how Ovechkin has lifted the Capitals in the absence of Nicklas Backstrom (since returned), John Carlson, and T.J. Oshie, he’s got a strong case.

Next up on the goals list for Ovechkin (757 entering Friday): Jaromir Jagr, 766, third all time.

Loose pucks

Rumors had Penguins assistant GM Patrik Allvin, who worked up from the European scouting ranks, as the front-runner for the open Canucks gig. Allvin, born 47 years ago in Falun, Sweden, would become the second European-born GM in league history. Columbus’s Jarmo Kekalainen, the Finn who had a short stint as a player with the Bruins (1989-91), currently stands alone . . . How many people would be truly upset if Arizona, Montreal, Buffalo, Columbus, Ottawa, or Seattle didn’t have an All-Star? Probably not too many. On the other hand, it’s silly that Mikko Rantanen, Brad Marchand, Roman Josi, Sidney Crosby, Trevor Zegras, and David Pastrnak aren’t there. Zegras will reportedly be part of the skills challenge, which is a start . . . Wonderful to see all the flowers given to Willie O’Ree this past week, as irritating as it is to remember that he’s 86 and should not have waited until 2018 to get into the Hall of Fame. Have to agree with TNT analyst Wayne Gretzky, who said O’Ree’s No. 22 should be retired league-wide. “He’s done so many great things for not just hockey but for kids to have the perspective of one day maybe at least going to college to play the game of ice hockey,” said Gretzky. “He’s opened up so many doors for so many kids.”