Hughes on Slafkovsky: 'It's his desire to be a difference-maker'

MONTREAL -- General manager Kent Hughes met the media after the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft on Thursday night.

Hughes reflected on his work, including drafting top-ranked International skater Juraj Slafkovsky with the first overall pick, and participating in a three-way trade.
Here are a few highlights from his press conference:
Hughes on trading Alexander Romanov to the New York Islanders:
It was very difficult. We tried to move up. We've been talking to Chicago for two or three weeks about Kirby Dach. It was very clear to them what they wanted in terms of draft picks. We did everything we could to move up with the many picks that we had, but at the end of the day, we couldn't convince a team to make the trade with picks. Romanov was one of the players being talked about. We're disappointed to lose Romy, and we wish him the best with the Islanders. Sometimes to get what we want, we need to make sacrifices, too.

Hughes on why acquiring Kirby Dach was intriguing:
We were looking to improve and get a little faster in the middle of the ice. There's also, in a perfect world, an age component to it that he can grow with our young corps, and certainly he fit that description for us. We knew that he was available potentially, so we spent a good amount of time trying to understand who he was. We spoke to a lot of people in and around Chicago associated with the team, even to the extent of speaking with Justin Barron today, who was with him at the World Juniors, just to make sure we understood who the player was. We're going to invest money in developing hockey players and try to get the most out of their potential. We believe that Kirby has significant potential and we're hopeful that with the Montreal Canadiens we can bring him along and get him to a point where he's a pretty special centerman.

Hughes on why he chose to draft Juraj Slafkovsky first overall:
There aren't many players who can skate, who have a big body and are able to score like Juraj. At the same time, when you build a team, we often talk about centers and goaltenders. When we tried to differentiate one player from another, we often came back to the fact that Juraj, even when he played with men at the World Championships, wanted to make a difference. He wanted to have the puck all the time. One of the questions that I asked him when I met him was to know what he loved most about hockey. He told me being on the ice when they're up 4-3 or are down 4-3. This type of response is what we saw from him as a player.

Hughes on Slafkovsky's key traits:
When we talk about his character, it's his desire to be a difference-maker. You see it in the way he plays, you see it when you speak to him that he's a very charismatic kid. I try to think about being an 18-year-old kid, and he left home at 15. I asked him if he lived in a dorm and he said, 'No.' I said, 'So, one of your parents moved with you?' and he said, 'No.' Then I said, 'How'd you cook?' and he said, 'With a stove.' He's very independent. He's confident without being arrogant, and we think that this is a kid that not only has the mindset that we're looking for, but we also evaluate where he is in his game and what he has in terms of natural abilities and where he could be if we help him along in the process.

Hughes on his plans for Slafkovsky moving forward:
We'd like him in North America. We'll be fluid in terms of that decision and flexible. We're hopeful that, wherever he starts, based on how he looks over the remainder of this summer and in training camp, if he shows that he's ready to play in Montreal, he'll play in Montreal. If not, he'll play in Laval. We'd like to get him signed fairly quickly here.