TSN: Kenzie Lalonde on with Jay Onrait on the likelihood of Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes adding to their roster before the start of the season. They have the assets to make a move if they want.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Onrait: “In your opinion, Kenzie, what is the likelihood of GM Ken Hughes continuing to add to this roster before the start of the regular season?
Lalonde: Yeah, so we, I think we know it’s a possibility we go back to free agency. And we heard Jonathan Marchessault saying the Canadians are in the rotation for him to sign with. The only issue there was, was the term. So Marchessault ended up signing five years with the Nashville Predators.
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So it goes to show the Canadians aren’t quite comfortable with maybe a five-year length of contract, more in that short term two to three years but a top-six forward. They want to make that advancement.
If they do go out get that free agent on a short term deal. They want to make sure he will add to them and make it better. So we’ll continue to watch this top-six and how they go about it. There’s certainly a spot there to play big minutes.
It’ll be great to see a healthy Kirby Dach back in the lineup and Alex Newhook there as well. So we look at that second line, who will round out on the winger? Will Josh Anderson’s get back to his scoring touch and fill in there or will they continue to look around, shop and if they find a deal that makes sense, make it happen.
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And they had the assets to make it possible. They’ve got these bright young defenders on the blue line, and two, likely two first round picks next year in the 2025 NHL draft. so they have the assets to make the moves it’s just finding the right fit.