‘Barron had the potential to become something’: Kent Hughes defends stealing from Barry Trotz

While Jean-Charles Lajoie touted a daylight robbery in front of him, alluding to the acquisition of Alexandre Carrier from the Nashville Predators in exchange for Justin Barron, Kent Hughes refused to take the bait.

He does not believe he has passed a little haste to a counterpart he respects in Barry Trotz, even if so far, the results have been unequivocal.

“The exchange makes good sense for both sides,” assured Hughes. It’s 100% sure that it helped us a lot. And perhaps Nashville’s future is best served with this trade.

“I’m not 100% aware of the Predators’ motives and what they wanted to accomplish.”

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Hughes then made an interesting admission: did the CH abandon the Barron project because it did not believe it could offer an environment conducive to its development?

“We lost a good defender, Barron had the potential to become something,” said the CH CEO. But I find it difficult to find this potential in him. We weren’t able to surround him with a veteran.”

This is what Hughes was referring to, therefore, in his mid-season assessment, when he talked about the balance to maintain between the number of young people and the number of veterans in a training during a reconstruction.

Reinbacher and Demidov: a different context

During his assessment, Hughes admitted that only one member of the CH was able to spy on Ivan Demidov in person before the organization claimed him in fifth place. Which led Jean-Charles to wonder: how many have seen David Reinbacher in the flesh before his selection in 2023?

“Crime, around ten,” Hughes immediately responded with a tone that illustrated the different context surrounding the two selections. It must be understood that Nick Brobrov knew Demidov. [Le] father [de Bobrov] works for the St. Petersburg SKA. And he just has so many contacts in general in Russia.”

The question of taxes

The issue of taxes in Canada is impossible to avoid. A Canadian team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1993, and four of the last five Stanley Cup champions played in states with no payroll taxes.

There’s no justice in that, of course. But leveling the field is not done by shouting “scissors,” notes Hughes.

“What was discussed was having tax fairness [tax equalization] to put everyone on an equal footing. But other things come into play. “It’s more complicated than just saying it’s a problem,” he warned.

We know his preference, of course.

“We won’t be the only ones who want something to happen.”