When he attended the NHL media day, Montreal Canadiens’ captain Nick Suzuki was asked what he thought about his team’s new additions this offseason, and he made his feelings quite clear.
If the captain had asked GM Kent Hughes not to make any moves at the trade deadline, he made no such request this offseason, and with Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak’s contracts coming off the books, the GM knew precisely how he wanted to use the cap space.
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Hughes first went out and traded his two first-round picks and Emil Heineman to the New York Islanders to fill a considerable organizational need, a prominent right-shot defenseman in Noah Dobson. With David Savard retiring, the Canadiens desperately needed some help in the right-shot blueliner department, and they didn’t just replace Savard; they got an upgrade.
With Dobson filling what could have eventually been Logan Mailloux’s spot, the GM went out and traded the blueliner to the St. Louis Blues in return for Trois-Rivieres native Zachary Bolduc. The right winger was coming off a great rookie season with the Missouri outfit, putting up 36 points in 72 games on top of sporting a plus-20 rating and seeing some action on the power play, picking up seven goals on the man-advantage.
What did the captain have to say about the moves? Here you go:
I think they’re going to fit in perfectly. They both play the style that we like, and I think they’re going to love the way we play. […] It’s pretty impressive that we managed to get those two young guys in trades this summer.- Suzuki on Dobson and Bolduc
In other words, you can add Suzuki’s name to the list of Hughes’ fans in Montreal. Those acquisitions weren’t for players who had underperformed, and the organization hoped could find their groove in Montreal, like Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook, but rather for two players who have already shown what they can do at the highest level and can help address some issues in the Canadiens’ lineup.
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