BROSSARD, Que. 鈥� Kent Hughes is staying grounded amid the Montreal Canadiens' hot streak.
The general manager is cautious not to overreact after watching his team climb from the NHL鈥檚 basement into the playoff picture at the season鈥檚 halfway mark.
鈥淲e're happy that we're playing much better than at the start of the season,鈥� Hughes said Wednesday at the Canadiens鈥� practice facility. 鈥淏ut we've played 40 games and we're one game above .500, so I don't want to celebrate.
鈥淲e haven't accomplished anything yet.鈥�
The Canadiens ranked second last in the league with an 8-13-3 record on Dec. 1. A little over a month later, Montreal (19-18-3) is flying up the NHL standings with wins in eight of its last 10 games.
The run of good form coincides with Hughes trading youth for experience by acquiring veteran blueliner Alexandre Carrier from the Nashville Predators for 23-year-old defenceman Justin Barron on Dec. 18, shoring up Montreal鈥檚 defensive woes.
Hughes said he鈥檚 still evaluating whether or not the rebuilding team will be buyers instead of sellers at the March 7 trade deadline for the first time in four years.
"I don't think we'll deviate from the plan, in the sense that the plan is to build a team that can compete for the championship for years,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e've got 22 games before the trade deadline, we have a lot still to learn.
鈥淲e want to see where we go in the next stretch before the deadline and we'll make decisions based on that."
Defenceman David Savard and forwards Jake Evans, Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak are all pending unrestricted free agents. Asked specifically about extending Evans, who has blossomed into a key role player for the Canadiens this season, Hughes said he wouldn鈥檛 discuss contracts publicly.
Montreal's streak includes a 4-1-0 post-Christmas road trip across four time zones in eight days, toppling the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche 鈥� the last four Stanley Cup champions.
On Monday, the Canadiens returned home and rallied back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 in overtime and briefly grab hold of a playoff spot for the first time this season. They were one point outside the Eastern Conference鈥檚 second wild-card spot entering Wednesday's action.
"We're on a great run, I don't think we'll win eight of 10 games for the rest of the season,鈥� Hughes said. 鈥淲e know there are ups and downs during a season, and I think we're on the right track with the players we have and the players that are coming, but I don't want to be overly confident.
鈥淲e've seen what's happened with other teams, we saw the Buffalo Sabres come close to making the playoffs and fall back, we saw the same with Detroit a little bit."
Hughes, executive vice-president Jeff Gorton and owner Geoff Molson said before training camp they hoped to be 鈥渋n the mix鈥� for a playoff spot this season.
Instead, the Canadiens were slow out of the gate, losing 11 of their first 15 games in an early part of the campaign mired by blowout defeats on home ice: 7-2 to the New York Rangers, 8-2 to Seattle and 6-2 to Vegas.
Montreal also suffered an embarrassing 9-2 drubbing to Pittsburgh on Dec. 12 despite trailing only 3-2 after two periods.
While rookie defenceman Lane Hutson hit the ground running, fellow young prospects Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach struggled to find their game.
鈥淚t won鈥檛 come as a surprise to anyone 鈥� we weren鈥檛 happy with our start to the season, we didn鈥檛 play to our abilities,鈥� Hughes said.
Hughes added that the Canadiens lacked confidence, something they鈥檝e regained of late. He also noted that head coach Martin St. Louis found a better way to teach Montreal's defensive system to their players.
鈥淚 have to give credit to the players and the coaches because in those moments, especially in a market like Montreal, everyone talks about it, and it becomes more difficult to refocus with all the noise around them.
鈥淐redit to the coaches for the adjustments that made the team play better, but also a lot of players who weren鈥檛 playing well raised their level of play.鈥�
Hughes repeatedly noted how much Carrier, a 28-year-old shutdown defenceman, had helped his team turn things around.
"There were things that weren't working, outside of Alex Carrier, that were solved," he said. "But we saw that having five young defencemen with a lack of experience, especially when things aren't going well, it was important to have experience to help with those difficult moments."
Forward Patrik Laine also sparked the team in his return from a knee injury on Dec. 3 鈥� scoring eight goals in 13 games. The Finnish sniper, however, has missed the last three games with the flu.
"Whether we can be a playoff team or not, you know, we're in that conversation right now," he said. "Let's see how our players respond to it."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
