The Montreal Canadiens have hired Kent Hughes to a five-year contract as the team’s new general manager, it was announced Tuesday.
The former agent with Quartexx Management, who listed NHL stars Patrice Bergeron and Kris Letang among his clients, becomes the 18th general manager in franchise history.
“We are very excited to add Kent Hughes to our organization,” owner Geoff Molson said in a statement. “Kent is highly-respected in the hockey world, having built an excellent reputation as an NHL player agent for over 25 years now.”
Hughes replaces Marc Bergevin, who was fired Nov. 28 after a 10-year run, and follows the hiring of Jeff Gorton as executive vice president of hockey operations.
When he was hired, Gorton, the former GM of the New York Rangers, said the Canadiens would make it a priority to hire a French-speaking general manager to work with him. Hughes is a Montreal native.
“The process of finding our new general manager afforded us the opportunity to meet a number of extremely qualified candidates. Kent stood out, and we believe he is the right person to be the general manager of the Canadiens,” Gorton said in a statement Tuesday. “We also believe that Kent’s experience as an agent will be a great asset to the organization.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
