The Montreal Canadiens were eliminated by Carolina in five games, and now the hockey world is connecting dots that Kent Hughes probably already has circled on a whiteboard.
A post from @SBrooks_77 on Sunday morning is making the rounds for good reason.
The observation is pointed: Montreal has the same structural gaps Carolina had a year before the Hurricanes fixed them with Nikolaj Ehlers and K'Andre Miller.
A top-six forward who can play-drive alongside your best players. A top-four defenseman who can handle real minutes.
Sound familiar to anyone who watched that conference semifinal?
"Habs have the same holes the canes had a year ago. Miller being the rd for hutson and ehlers being another top 6 forward that can playdrive."
The Hurricanes went 53-22-7 this season, 113 points, first in the Metropolitan Division.
Ehlers specifically finished with 71 points in 82 games and then posted 18 points in 18 playoff games.
That is exactly the kind of player who makes Lane Hutson's life easier, which is what Montreal desperately needs.
Hutson needs a play-driver beside him, not just a depth piece
Hutson put up 78 points this season at age 22 and added 16 more in 19 playoff games.
He is not the problem. The problem is what surrounds him, and what happens when he is asked to do everything at once.
The Canadiens went 3-0 against Carolina in the regular season, then got blown out 4-1 in the series once it mattered.
Carolina's ability to generate consistently from multiple lines was the difference. Montreal had no real answer for it past the top two.
K'Andre Miller quietly posted a +12 in 19 playoff games for the Hurricanes this year, and his regular-season cap hit is $7.5 million.
That is what a top-four defenseman who can take on real pressure looks like in the playoffs.
The Canadiens have youth. They have Nick Suzuki at 101 points and Cole Caufield at 51 goals.
What they do not have is a proven second wave of offensive creation or a blue-line partner who takes the load off Hutson night after night.
The Twitter comparison is not flattery. It is a blueprint that already worked, and Carolina is living proof of it.
Hughes has cap room to work with, and the core is young enough that overpaying one or two pieces now makes sense.
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The question is whether he actually pulls the trigger on the kind of move that changes the ceiling, or if Montreal spends another summer watching from the outside.
Should Kent Hughes make a big-splash free agent signing to fix Montreal's top-six forward hole this summer?
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