Canadiens

Rick Bowness wasn't pointing fingers or assessing blame, but he was direct when it came to where he thought things went wrong in the Winnipeg Jets' 4-1 loss ...

“We sat back and we weren't on our toes and we didn't have our skating legs. “It’s pretty cool to hit those milestones,” said Connor, who became the fifth player in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise history to reach the mark. So, we had a bad game and we have to recover quickly. We wouldn’t be where we are today without that being a proud group,” said Bowness. “Ah, I mean, you want to take everything that we can out of that. “It was everybody, so... I don’t think it’s just a completely wipe the slate and forget about it (situation). “There's very few games that we're going to walk out of a rink and say we didn't deserve to win but that's certainly one. “They were able to counter on us pretty good, catch us on bad changes. We didn't deserve to win that game,” Bowness told reporters in Montreal. “I wish I knew. We just weren’t taking care of each other.

Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes gave an update on the work he's been doing to rebuild the team, and spoke about efforts to re-sign a top star.

“Whether we’re right or wrong, I don’t know, because there is no one path. He acknowledges that’s easier to do when expectations are low like they are right now. There’s so much to do,” Hughes said.

The Montreal Canadiens' injury list keeps expanding. The team announced that 2022 first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky will miss three months with a ...

[Jake Evans](/hockey/nhl/players/jake-evans/831573) will also miss a good chunk of the season, the centre is out for eight to 10 weeks with a lower-body injury, specifically a left-knee injury, suffered during Saturday's 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders. And with the Canadiens on the outside looking in of the NHL's playoff picture, the number one overall pick may have played his last game in 2022-23. The three-month timeline could very well spell the end of Slafkovsky's season, as the Canadiens' final regular-season game is scheduled for Apr.

Post-game recap and interviews with Jets players as well as head coach Rick Bowness.

[Download](https://media.blubrry.com/illegalcurve/ins.blubrry.com/illegalcurve/ICHockeyPGShow011723.mp3) [Play in new window](https://media.blubrry.com/illegalcurve/ins.blubrry.com/illegalcurve/ICHockeyPGShow011723.mp3) He’s just the second draft pick from 2015 (the other being Connor McDavid) to score 200 goals.

We have a really good group of people in hockey ops — and that's not just the dressing room, that's everybody here," he says.

Really finding balance. So it’s about finding balance. “It’s always about finding balance,” Hughes said. Louis was hired as head coach. Hughes is also confident, smart and honest, three qualities that are very important to being a successful GM in today’s NHL. Article content

Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes is giving a mid-season review of his club on Wednesday — and you can watch it right here on sportsnet.ca.

The Canadiens are currently 19-23-3, last in the Atlantic Division and 26th in the NHL. The 52-year-old took over the role one year ago today. Editor's Note: The stream has ended.

Hughes described where the Canadiens stand, Juraj Slafkovský's development, Cole Caufield's contract and how the trade market is shaping up.

[Joel Edmundson](https://theathletic.com/nhl/player/joel-edmundson-Ah7CDlBn39yUT8WP/)’s name is all over the rumour mill, so it’s hardly news that Hughes acknowledged having a conversation with him to try and be transparent and open about the possibilities. And what’s most important to remember is that Hughes does not feel the need to trade either Edmundson or Savard, and in fact sees how useful they would be staying in Montreal. It’s important to keep in mind how young he is and how unique his qualities as a player are, but also just how big of an adjustment he was being asked to make this season, as Hughes explained so clearly. The upcoming trade deadline and the draft are more pressing matters, but Hughes and the Canadiens have clear intentions with Caufield. Boldy is not as prolific a scorer as Caufield, but if you look at his overall player profile and the varied areas in which he helps the Wild, it could be argued (as I’m sure the Canadiens will) that Boldy, in his own way, is just as valuable as Caufield. The main information Hughes shared on the Caufield contract talks is that he won’t comment on the contract talks. He had been making more touch passes into space to teammates, winning more battles, making more correct reads on the ice, all of which will be valuable when he starts his second NHL season. “It’s important for us, I believe a lot in the culture of the team,” Hughes continued. He refused to give a timeline for how long that might take, and he shouldn’t, because building a winning hockey team is fluid. It has always been about teaching him the unique qualities of playing on a smaller ice surface, something he had never done before, and doing so at NHL pace. It’s a tightrope, but it bears repeating because it can get lost in the grind of an And they need to be in lockstep with each other as to how they will get there, together.

I don't think that there's any one path developmentally for every player," Kent Hughes says.

We’re going to go by trial and error as we go through all this, but we’re coming with a certain background and probably a strength of ours as an organization from management to coaching. Some people are carefree. Some people are right in the middle. “Sometimes this year we’ve seen him think on the ice and other times we’ve seen him react,” Hughes said. I would use an analogy and say: ‘I watch the way you walk and I think your right foot protrudes out and your left foot is in. So the sport of hockey, skating would be the extreme. Wednesday marked the first anniversary since Hughes was hired as GM. “I don’t think that there’s any one path developmentally for every player,” Hughes said. Slafkovsky averaged 12:13 of ice time per game and was minus-13. All of that is relevant in terms of developing a plan for a particular player.” That means Slafkovsky’s season is most likely over because the Canadiens will play their final game on April 13 at the Bell Centre against the Boston Bruins. Article content

The Montreal Canadiens have placed 2022 first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky on injured reserve, along with fellow forwards Joel Armia and Jake Evans.

Harvey-Pinard has 25 points (15 goals, 10 assists) in 37 games with the Rocket, while Pitlick has 22 points (five goals, 17 assists) in 18 appearances. Evans (lower-body injury) was injured in Montreal's 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday. Slafkovsky sustained a lower-body injury in Montreal's 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday.