Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes is quietly confident after signing two of the team’s key young players, Juraj Slafkovsky and Kaiden Guhle, to long-term contract extensions this summer.

“I think Juraj and Kaiden are under contract with Nick [Suzuki] and Cole [Caufield]is important to us,” Hughes explained in an interview with NHL.com.

“We won’t be able to offer long-term contracts to everyone, but we decided to do that with some young guys and they were willing to commit as well, which is great,” he added.

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Hughes believes Slafkovsky’s eight-year, $7.6 million-per-year contract will pay off for the organization in the long run, but the promising 20-year-old Slovakian must first and foremost stick to becoming “the best version of himself.”

“We don’t need him to score 40 or 50 goals, otherwise it will be a failure,” he explained. He needs to continue to develop as a player.”

“That’s why I think the salary cap at the end of these contracts should be in our favour and if that’s not the case, it’s because they’ve backed the wrong horse,” the man also stressed.

The core of the “rebuilt” Tricolore appears to be increasingly in place, although additions can still be made. As the 2024-25 season approaches, Hughes is excited to see how his plan progresses.

“We are excited to see this development of our young players and of course hope that injuries will spare us this year, but we are also relying on veterans who have been with us for a long time,” he added that he hopes center Kirby Dach will bounce back after missing most of last season with a knee injury.

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