Canadiens Hughes Hits A Home Run But Not By Bringing In A Free Agent

“I have to say that normally, yes, said Hughes, but when players aren’t with us, it’s hard to get on the phone and make a sales pitch in the limited time you have to talk to them. But you can certainly hope that information is making the rounds in the league; that players in the NHL know players who play elsewhere. When they are in a bad situation, word gets around quickly, but we hope that the contrary is also true. It’s certainly something we have to take into account when we’re trading for a player. When all of our players are making sacrifices to benefit the team, we can’t just say, “Thanks, everyone,” and sign someone for $20 million, get them in the room, and expect them to go around thanking Ivan, Nick, and Cole for his $20 million. We’re aware of that, and it’s part of building a culture, but at the same time, we signed Noah for more than the others because it allowed us to take a step forward, and I know that our players are happy that we did.”