Kent Hughes Faces a Crucial Week

In a week, it will be the Canadiens' golf tournament. In many ways, this marks the start of the season.

Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton will face the media after a few months away from the cameras. And inevitably, they'll have to answer a few questions.

Among them: Why hasn't anyone been added via trade or free agency? Who will play alongside Lane Hutson? Who will be the team's second-string center when the season gets underway?

What's the situation in goal right now? When will Zachary Bolduc, Arber Xhekaj, Martin St-Louis, and Marco Marciano sign new contracts?

The situations with Bolduc and Xhekaj are starting to get urgent…

That's why, as Renaud Lavoie mentioned on BPM Sports this morning, the next week will be very important for Kent Hughes.

I can't say Kent Hughes's summer was terrible, since trading Brendan Gallagher to Vancouver and signing Jakub Dobes and (especially) Ivan Demidov at that price were excellent moves.

But since the team isn't any better than last year (aside from the natural progression of the guys already on the roster) and the to-do list is still long, we can't give the GM a stellar grade for his offseason either.

Hughes can't do everything in a week, but he could help himself by having some good news to share with the reporters who'll be asking him questions in exactly one week, at the club's golf tournament.

Will that be the case? We'll see.

– The Hughes brothers are spending time together.

From the source The Hughes brothers were spotted together at the #USOpen watching the night session!

Book Release/After the Forum | Moving, Ghosts, and Other Curiosities https://t.co/GFjLWKb4Oz

From the source Edmonton Oilers unlikely to be harmed by two trends hammering many Canadian teamshttps://t.co/9V0NDU8xKr via @edmontonjournal

This article first appeared on Dose.ca and was syndicated with permission.