No one should be surprised Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes got a first-round pick (plus) for a healthy Sean Monahan. It’s more so a matter of Monahan having stayed healthy long enough for him to have pulled off the feat of asset management mastery ahead of the upcoming trade deadline.
Related: Proof Canadiens Can Get First-Round Pick for Monahan
So, yeah, a lot of things had to go right for Hughes to have effectively gotten two first-round picks for Monahan, one to take on his contract in the first place from the Calgary Flames and another to flip him to the Winnipeg Jets. Remember, the Canadiens had found themselves unable to last year, because, like everyone else on the roster (excluding iron man Nick Suzuki) Monahan had gotten injured before Hughes could pull the trigger.
You could probably argue the recent Elias Lindholm trade (by the Flames as well) also helped, in that it set the market for pending unrestricted-free-agent centres taken fifth and sixth overall in 2013. For Lindholm, the Flames got five pieces, including a first-round pick (and, perhaps the centrepiece of the deal, forward Andrei Kuzmenko).
Hughes Gets His Pick
So, some cynics may frown on the first and conditional picks Hughes got for Monahan and suggest the GM was shortchanged and that he maybe should have waited for a better deal. After all, in some circles, Monahan could be seen as the superior acquisition. Granted, Lindholm is seen as the better defensive player, but Monahan’s numbers on a weaker team in the Canadiens are more impressive in the right light. Factor in his lower cap hit and you have your case that Monahan was worth more.
It’s really only Monahan’s injury history that may have brought down the price tag, but, seeing as you’ve only got a few months left in the season, any team lucky enough to get Monahan wouldn’t exactly be banking on him staying healthy for long. However, because of that injury history and the Canadiens’ injury issues, you simply have to sit back and enjoy the masterclass Hughes continues to put on, on the trade front.
If Hughes has a strength, this is it, making good trades. It’s at least what he’s done up to now, as he rebuilds the Canadiens. He’s not afraid of flipping players for futures to the long-term benefit of the team. So, for all intents and purposes, flipping Monahan was always part of the plan.
Consider reports the two sides had an agreement in place when Hughes re-signed Monahan to a team-friendly, one-year, $1.985 million deal last offseason. Hughes even confirmed that agreement in his media availability session following the trade to the Jets.
So, any suggestion the Canadiens should have kept and re-signed Monahan (and there were a lot of suggestions) were conveniently ignoring a great deal: namely that agreement, Monahan’s injury history and his age and how, as a result, any contract Monahan would want to sign wouldn’t align with the team’s projected window to compete.
That’s a big one, that last qualifier, because Monahan’s going to want both money and term. The Canadiens simply aren’t in a position to go there, with Hughes saying during that availability (translated into English): “We don’t have enough clarity regarding the future of the team to be in a position to offer him a reasonable contract. In the situation we’re in, it’s best that we trade him.”
Trust in Hughes (Within Reason)
So, those who had been vocal about wanting the Canadiens to re-sign Monahan face a paradox. They have to reconcile their opinions about what Hughes should have done with the reality of what Hughes just did. If they have supported Hughes’ efforts in rebuilding the team up to now, they must at least consider the notion this trade makes sense… and it does on so many different levels.
To be fair, it’s not like late first-round picks, which the Jets’ will likely end up being, are guaranteed stars. They’re not even guaranteed NHLers. There may have been doubters Monahan could get Hughes that supposedly elusive pick. However, the idea that Monahan wasn’t going to get the Habs at least that much? It was always ridiculous.
Monahan’s a still-just 29-year-old forward on a cheap contract. He has a proven production track record, having scored at least 20 goals seven times. He’s on pace for that much once again, with 13 goals and 35 points in 49 games. He can take faceoffs. He can play both at centre and on the wing reasonably well. How is that not worth a first-round pick? When so many GMs traditionally overpay at the trade deadline, how could anyone argue otherwise?
So, it’s not a miracle Hughes got what he did. It’s more so a testament to the fact he knows what he’s doing, at least when it comes to making trades. Again, no one should be surprised. And they shouldn’t be surprised if he ends up flipping that pick at a later date to get an asset with more of a chance at panning out (see Dach, Kirby and Newhook, Alex). That’s not nearly as ridiculous.
This is what Hughes does, after all. Everyone should know better by now. Hopefully now they do.
