Lavoie Reports Contract Extensions Discussed for Hughes and Gorton

Gorton has been with the team since November 2021, when team owner Geoff Molson decided to create a new role within the organization after the firing of Marc Bergevin after a horrendous start to the 2021-22 season. It wasn’t long before Gorton found his man in Hughes to work alongside him as the team’s GM. Together, they instantly got to work to improve the team.

This HuGo duo has turned this team around for the better after coming in when the Habs were a bottom dweller. Their first serious move was bringing in a rookie Head Coach in Martin St. Louis, who hadn’t coached above Bantam AAA before getting the job.

One of the things that has made this management group so good thus far is that they decided to do things differently and bring in a Hall-of-Fame hockey player who knows the game well, rather than recycle from the old bin of coaches that have been rotated within the organization for the past 25 years to that point. Now, I will say I was one of the people who thought it was a crazy decision to bring in a guy who has never coached at any Junior or Professional hockey level. Being a Hall-of-Fame player doesn’t always mean you can coach, look at Wayne Gretzky, for example.

However, for every Gretzky and Denis Savard who fail at coaching, there are the Rod Brind’Amours and Martin St. Louis who can coach almost as good as they played. This ended up being one of the most crucial moves that the management group made. After the 2023-24 season, St. Louis got a nice contract extension. Now is the time for the guys who hired him to get theirs.

Gorton and Hughes seem to be of the new era hockey mind, and they have put together a staff that can help the team develop for the long term. Their work has already paid off better than they expected, and that’s partially because they got a coach who needed to learn on the job as he taught the younger players his own habits.

If the Canadiens want to be successful for the long term, they need guys in charge who know how to handle the players of the new generation. This is especially where Hughes tends to thrive, as we’ve seen tons of behind-the-scenes footage of Hughes communicating very clearly with his players, and it tends to keep all parties on the same page.

It’s like Hughes mentioned to the media today, the players are like a family, and they want to win for each other. The fact that everyone can get on the same page so easily starts with the management and works its way down. This team is a family, and it is time to reward the guys who made it this way with a new contract.

Hopefully, the deal gets done soon so that we can have HuGo around for a long time as they continue building this team into a contender.

What are your thoughts on Renaud Lavoie’s report?