‘Forget it!’: Kent Hughes lost patience during negotiations for a $70 million player
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A new documentary series is pulling back the curtain on the tense negotiations surrounding one very specific contract for Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens.
We’re talking about Lane Hutson‘s contract negotiations.The Montreal Canadiens have built a strong reputation for their salary structure, starting with the team-friendly contract Nick Suzuki signed under Marc Bergevin.
Everyone was eager to see that situation get resolved.
The first episode of Season 3 of the documentary series about the Canadiens’ rebuild, available on Crave, looks back at those particularly complicated negotiations.
During a 2025 preseason game against the Senators in Quebec City, cameras caught Kent Hughes speaking with Jeff Gorton, visibly running out of patience.
Kent Hughes’ frustration shows how tense the Lane Hutson contract talks became
Here’s a more exact version of what he said:
“The structure and everything we offered, forget it!”
– Kent Hughes
Jeff Gorton appeared just as frustrated, admitting that he didn’t know what to say to his GM at that specific point in the negotiations.
Clearly, things weren’t going all that smoothly. And clearly, the situation was also starting to affect Lane Hutson’s play.
A year from now, Zachary Bolduc and Arber Xhekaj could very well be the players whose contract talks receive the same kind of behind-the-scenes look.
Yes, the Canadiens had a scare, but in the end, everything worked out.
Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics
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‘Forget it!’: Kent Hughes lost patience during negotiations for a $70 million player
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