Canadiens Hungry: Does Kent Hughes Have Something Up His Sleeve?

With opening night days away, Darren Dreger has fans in Montreal buzzing. On the Ray & Dregs podcast, he didn’t guarantee a deal, but he said it feels like Kent Hughes is working on something and that a trade before game one is possible. Noting that Montreal is hungry to take another step, “It really feels, Ray, like Kent Hughes has something up his sleeve.”

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The Canadiens have been looking for a top-six forward, ideally a second-line center, and Columbus keeps coming up. While Kirill Marchenko isn’t a center, he is a legitimate scorer and offensive producer. Montreal is in a strong position to act. As Ray Ferraro pointed out, much of its young core signed long-term deals before the cap ceiling was announced, which gives Hughes room to take on salary other teams couldn’t. The Canadiens are just entering a multi-year window to win so Marchenko makes sense, even as a rental.

The hard part is price. One report says Hughes won’t include Michael Hage no matter how big the offer gets. That leaves other young assets and picks as the likeliest currency. In July, GM Don Waddell said flatly that Marchenko wouldn’t be traded. More recently he has acknowledged that teams have called and said any deal must help Columbus. He wants a good player back.

The Marchenko Factor

Is Marchenko worth the acquisition price? The 26-year-old is a 6-foot-3, 200-pound winger who had 67 points in 76 games last season. He is a right-shot scorer with size, and he carries a cap hit of $3.85 million. That contract is a big part of the appeal, since he’d slot next to Ivan Demidov without straining Montreal’s books.

However, next season and the season after would be where the cost becomes an issue. Beyond having to give up a solid piece of the current roster, Marchenko will be looking for a big payday, and his salary might upset the internal cap the Canadiens have in place.

This is despite the growing pressure on the Blue Jackets. Moving him while he’s under contract could be the smart play but more than the Canadiens will show interest.

Elliotte Friedman reported that Boston has made an offer for Marchenko.

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