Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton show transparency in fan Q&A

MONTREAL - When Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes spoke to the media for the first time, they vowed to do their best to afford as much transparency to the fans as possible. In an ongoing bid to fulfill their promise, they spent the afternoon with the VP of communications, Chantal Machabée, and Canadiens fans, answering their questions and having a little fun at each other's expense.

Here are some of the highlights from Tuesday's panels.
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Gorton and Hughes on the value of analytics:
JG:"We can use analytics in coaching, style of play, in what teams are doing against you, in what's successful, what forechecks are successful, how your defencemen are breaking out, [how players are] going back for pucks, their pass rates, there's a lot of different things you can find out with data analytics.
"It's an added piece that I think helps. Does it make the decision? No. But if we're going to make the right decisions, it's only smart to use everything we can."
KH:"It's information for us, allows us to evaluate the team and other things. For example, the other day I told Marty [St-Louis] I thought a player didn't have a particularly strong game, but Marty told me the information said otherwise. So I returned to the tape and watched it again, to find what I missed and what the information is telling us. This also helps for development."

Hughes and Gorton on the team identity:
KH:"We're in an entertainment business. I've noticed the fans enjoy the level of excitement at the moment. In Montreal, it's not just about winning and losing, it's about how you go about it. For us, it's important to have an exciting team. We've noticed a certain character from our players."
JG:"It's just been more fun, that's the environment we want to create. We want to win, we want to get better as quickly as possible, but we want to have fun. In the last month, I can see now where we're going and how we'll get there."
Hughes and Gorton on their assessment of the team:
KH:"Whether it's hockey or any business, there's a need for a certain culture, a certain amount of… certainly in sports, there are individual goals but there has to be a collective goal as well. We have a group here where the culture is right. They're pulling for each other, and pulling for the team. It's critical. Without it you can have a really talented team that is going nowhere. As we add to this team, whether by draft or trade, we will be mindful that we won't disrupt the culture that we're helping to establish right now, that'll be very critical going forward."
JG:"We just need to keep getting better. In the last few weeks here, we can all see our team is playing better, it's much more exciting, it's been more exciting for the players, it's been better for us to evaluate our team. It's good.
"We're looking at the draft now, we have so many picks. We need to get our people out there watching these players, and think about that. And keep evolving as a team. We're much more fun…it's more fun to evaluate our players when we're competing and playing well."
Gorton on his dynamic with Hughes:
"I'm really happy with Kent and what he's done. Although he told me today that we'd agreed we were going to wear ties, and he showed up without a tie, we have to talk about that. (laughs)
"We have fun with it. If you were behind closed doors you'd see we have some fun. But we can also get pretty serious about it too."
Gorton on the role of Geoff Molson:
"Kent and I are fully aligned with Geoff Molson, he's been very supportive. That's been key too, to have someone like that, that's so supportive of what we're doing. He asks the right questions, he just wants to know what we're doing, and what we're doing next. To have that support is key as we move forward."
Gorton and Hughes on the passion of Canadiens fans:
JG:"Yesterday I had a fan roll down the window of his car while I was going 30 miles per hour to talk to me (laughs). Not used to that! It was fun. We all want to be in a hockey market, and this is probably the best hockey market there is."
KH:"We're in our honeymoon stage. We're aware there will be difficult parts too, but people are passionate. It's a lot easier to accept [the difficult parts] when people are passionate about the organization. I hope we can bring the Stanley Cup back soon, there's no better market to win in than Montreal."
Hughes on Jordan Harris' contract situation:
"The NCAA doesn't permit student-athletes to have an agent, technically. So, he would be what they call a NCAA family advisor, and they can't negociate professional contracts, so... We've talked about what the opportunity would be in Montreal for him if he chooses to - he's an impending free agent, if he doesn't sign with us. Our hope is that he does. We kind of layed out what we're trying to do with the organization, what our plan is, and how we see him fitting in, and... I'm hopeful that... I've known Jordan for a long time, I've coached Jordan. I know his family, and obviously he's played with and against my oldest son since they were 7 or 8 years of age. I'm hopeful that there's a little bit of familiarity that works in our favor."
Hughes on Carey Price:
"His plan is to return this year. His aim is to play this season. I hope there will be no setbacks like in the past. If he returns, we're lucky, we'll have one of the best goalies in the world in our organization. I know people have questions, but the focus is on his health. We have no plans right now, we just hope he can return healthy."