Hughes hired as Canadiens general manager, had been player agent

Kent Hughes spoke of changes in his first remarks as Montreal Canadiens general manager.

"We have challenges. There's no question," Hughes said Wednesday, one day after being hired. "The team's not where we had hoped it would be, or the Canadiens had hoped it would be, at this point in time. My opinion is, some of that is circumstance. But there's no question that there need to be changes."
Hughes said one of the first decisions to make is regarding the status of coach Dominique Ducharme, who was promoted to replace Claude Julien during last season. Ducharme helped the Canadiens reach the Stanley Cup Final, but at 8-25-5 this season they are last in the NHL.
"Dom's the coach of this team, and again, arriving here today with … I haven't had a lot of opportunity to think about everything," said Hughes, who said he was offered the job Monday. "It's been kind of more of a reactionary 48 hours. But I certainly have beliefs about what a modern-day coach should be or have in terms of qualities, and I'm anxious to speak to Dom and learn more about him, and ultimately, we'll see where things take us from there."
Hughes was a player agent for Quartexx Management based in Montreal, with a client list that included Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, New York Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier and Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse.
The 51-year-old Montreal native is the 18th general manager for the Canadiens; he replaced Marc Bergevin, who was fired Nov. 28.
"For a guy from here becoming general manager of the Canadiens is the opportunity of a lifetime," Hughes said. "My work as an agent took me everywhere in the hockey world and Montreal remains to me the biggest hockey city. The passion of the fans here is unrivaled. …
"It's Montreal, it's the city where I grew up, the most decorated franchise in hockey history. (Minnesota Wild GM) Bill Guerin is a friend. He called me to talk about the decision. He told me, 'Kent, it's the New York Yankees, it's the Dallas Cowboys, it's the Montreal Canadiens. Come on, you don't have a decision to make.' On top of that, it's not about coming here just to fill someone else's shoes. There's a lot of work to do and the opportunity to really contribute to a new blueprint for the Montreal Canadiens."
Hughes said his first step will be to meet the Canadiens in Las Vegas, where they play the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. He said he wants to get to know the players and staff, and meet with the scouting and player development departments to prepare for the NHL Trade Deadline on March 21.
As for his vision for the Canadiens, he said, "In a perfect world, we would be an offensive-minded hockey club. I don't think you can be successful in the National Hockey League today without being a defensively responsible team, but we see teams in the National Hockey League -- I think all of us can identify some -- where the focus is strictly defensive and others that are more creative. … I envision a team that plays fast with the puck, that's a possession hockey team. But I also understand that you have to build a team around the players that you have, and that's going to be a process for us here as we move forward."
Jeff Gorton, who was hired as executive vice president of hockey operations the day Bergevin was fired, said then that a new GM would be bilingual and could be an "outside the box" selection, including a player agent.
"The process of finding our new general manager afforded us the opportunity to meet a number of extremely qualified candidates," Gorton said Tuesday. "Kent stood out, and we believe he is the right person to be the general manager of the Canadiens. We also believe that Kent's experience as an agent will be a great asset to the organization."
Hughes was one of 11 candidates interviewed for the GM job.
"No question, we talked to some very impressive people," Gorton said Wednesday, "learned a lot about their thoughts on our team and their thoughts about player development, analytics and team building, everything that goes into a successful hockey organization. It's been a really eye-opening and enlightening experience. I think it's going to help us move forward, and I do think there are some people we talked to that hopefully we have the chance to talk to again."
Hughes, who signed a five-year contract, represented several high-profile NHL players from Quebec, including Vincent Lecavalier, who played for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings.
"We are very excited to add Kent Hughes to our organization," Montreal owner Geoff Molson said. "Kent is highly respected in the hockey world, having built an excellent reputation as an NHL player agent for over 25 years now."
Hughes is not the first to go from player agent to a management role with an NHL team.
Pierre Lacroix became the general manager of the Quebec Nordiques in 1994 and helped guide them to Stanley Cup wins in 1996 and 2001 after relocating to the Colorado Avalanche. He was named Colorado president in 2006.
Brian Burke, now president of hockey operations with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Bill Zito, general manager with the Florida Panthers, are former player agents. Other former NHL GMs who were agents are Dean Lombardi, Peter Chiarelli, Ray Shero, Mike Gillis and Brian Lawton.
Hughes played four seasons of NCAA Division III hockey for Middlebury College (Vermont) from 1988 to 1992. He holds the school record for assists (140) and points (194) in a career, and most assists (48 in 1992) and most points (63 in 1992) in a season. Middlebury was 65-13-2 during Hughes' final three seasons and won a national championship in 1991. He was inducted into Middlebury College Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.
Hughes' brother, Ryan Hughes, was a second-round pick (No. 22) of the Nordiques in the 1990 NHL Draft. Ryan played three NHL games for the Bruins in 1995-96.
Kent's son, Riley Hughes, was selected by the Rangers in the seventh round (No. 216) of the 2018 NHL Draft and is a junior at Northeastern University (NCAA). His other son, Jack Hughes, is a freshman at Northeastern and is No. 7 among North AmerIcan skaters in NHL Central Scouting 's midterm rankings for the 2022 NHL Draft.
Bergevin had been the head of hockey operations since being named general manager May 2, 2012. The Canadiens were 344-265-81 and made the Stanley Cup Playoffs six times in his nine full seasons, including a five-game loss to the Lightning in the 2021 Cup Final.
NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika, independent correspondent Sean Farrell and columnist Dave Stubbs contributed to this report