Canadiens’ Blueprint to a Successful 2026 Free Agency

There was finally a sense of closure inside the corridors of the Bell Centre on the afternoon of June 30. When general manager (GM) Kent Hughes officially traded Brendan Gallagher to the Vancouver Canucks, retaining 50 percent of his $6.5-million cap hit, it wasn’t just the structural end of a 14-year, heart-and-soul era in Montreal.

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