Habs Give Hughes and Gorton Multi-Year Extensions

Together, Hughes and Gorton have proven thus far that splitting the duties of hockey operations has helped them become more effective as opposed to if they did the job alone. Given that both guys have different backgrounds that brought them to where they are in the hockey world, both of them tend to take the reins on certain aspects of the job that fit best with each’s strength. This is exactly why it works out better in a team. With everything that Gorton and Hughes have accomplished together so far, teams may start to look at having two guys share the responsibilities of their organization’s hockey operations by having both a GM and a President of Hockey Operations.

Yesterday’s work of finalizing a contract for Hutson was surely the job of Hughes, who has lots of experience when it comes to negotiating contracts as a player agent. Hughes worked as a player agent for nearly 25 years before taking the job with the Canadiens in January 2022. With that being said, he has developed an ability to get a player below market value on numerous occasions. Not only has he managed to get Lane Hutson for below market value, but also for the contracts of Kaiden Guhle, Cole Caufield and Jake Evans in recent years.

When it comes to things like the draft or even trades, Gorton plays a key role in managing that part. The reason is that he brings over 30 years of experience in the hockey operations of NHL teams. His first job in the NHL was as a pro scout with the Boston Bruins in 1993, before being promoted to director of scouting two years later with the Bruins. It wasn’t long before he got the Assistant General Manager job for the team in 1999, and even served as the team’s interim GM for a good part of the 2006 off-season, where he was responsible for the Bruins drafting Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand in the 2006 NHL draft. 

Gorton was eventually replaced by Peter Chiarelli on July 15th, 2006 and went back to his assistant GM job with the Bruins for the following season, but was soon fired. It wasn’t until 2015 that Gorton would return to a GM position for the New York Rangers.

He spent a good amount of time as a scout before getting his first job as a General Manager, which is why scouting is the area that he specializes in from a higher management perspective. Gorton also has a history of making really good trades as GM, such as turning an end of his prime Derrick Brassard into Mika Zibanejad, who became an all-star with the Rangers. 

If Kirby Dach hadn’t gotten injured so much, it’s possible that it would have been Gorton’s version of getting Mika Zibanejad during his time with the Canadiens. However, the Habs are still on the lookout for a 2nd line centre and with HuGo in charge, I believe they will get their guy in the next few years, if they haven’t already found him in Michael Hage.

So far, Hughes and Gorton have done a great job putting their skills together with the Canadiens, as they continue to build the Habs into a contender. Now with their new contract extensions, they will be able to hopefully achieve their goal of bringing a Stanley Cup back to Montreal.

Are you excited to see what else Hughes and Gorton will accomplish in Montreal?