Time passes, and the verdict is increasingly clear: Kent Hughes made a monumental error by exchanging Alexander Romanov to acquire Kirby Dach.
What was at the time perceived as a daring bet turned into one of the worst transactions of the last ten years in the NHL.
When the Canadian sent Romanov to the Icelanders in 2022 in exchange for the 13th total choice, no one could imagine that the robust Russian defender would become a Top-2 defender in the NHL so quickly.
Today, Romanov is an essential element of the New York Islanders, playing more than 25 minutes per match in a role of crucial “Shutdown” under the orders of Patrick Roy.
He transformed the Icelanders defensive, stabilizing the top-4 despite major injuries at Noah Dobson, Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield.
He continues the impactful defeats, heroic shots blocks and he defends better than ever. Even Roy says: Romanov played his best career match.
In other words, Romanov has become exactly the kind of defender that the Canadian would desperately need today.
Meanwhile … Kirby Dach collapsed in Montreal.
In return from Romanov, Kent Hughes obtained the 13th choice in total of the 2022 draft, which he then used to pick up Kirby Dach from the Blackhawks. Hughes then thought he was holding his second center of the future, a player capable of assisting Nick Suzuki and bringing a physical dimension to the attack on CH.
The result? An absolute disaster.
Dach is unable to be a reliable center, to the point where Martin St-Louis begins to think about mutating him to the wing for next season if Kent Hughes cannot exchange him.
His offensive statistics are catastrophic: 10 goals, 12 assists, 22 points in 52 games. Its defensive tumble is even worse: -29, one of the worst differentials of the NHL. He takes stupid penalties, turns round corners, lack of effort and was openly criticized by his own coach all season before being injured.
Kirby Dach is not even sure of having a future in Montreal.
While Romanov dominates Long Island, Dach has become a player without a defined role, who has no guaranteed place in the Canadian’s kernel in the long term.
And as if the pill was not already difficult enough to swallow for supporters, now Réjean Tremblay drives the point home in an explosive chronicle on the Punching Grace platform.
Lucid, scathing, and without the slightest detour, the journalist veteran cruelly sums up the situation:
“That said, nothing guarantees that the Canadian will participate in the series next season. Because the matches against Washington and even those of the last two weeks of the regular season have shown the team shortcomings. It is also in real matches that the mistakes of a recent past have hurt.
Lane Hutson is a miraculous find. He has a great vision of the game in attack. It is a real quarter. But the Canadian cannot afford to have a defender who systematically lets his attacker pass in the corner of his territory.
And in fact, the defender who cruelly failed in CH was only 25 years old. It is Alexander Romanov, who became a pillar of the New York Islanders. He plays hard, he is just what’s arrogant and he would have brought to the Canadian this pepper of robustness and dog who lacks this defense. »»
Sharp words … but sadly truthful. Romanov is today third in the NHL for blocked shots, ahead of David Savard, and 13th for defeating – just behind Arber Xhekaj.
Meanwhile, Kirby Dach does not have a defined position, no consistency, and could even be exchanged. Hughes and Gorton believed that he had got his hands on the dream center. But it seems that they rather let go, before their eyes, the defender that any NHL team seeks to have.
The exchange that will haunt Hughes all his life.
If Hughes had simply kept Romanov, the Canadian’s defensive would be much more solid today. Imagine a top-4 with Romanov, Guhle, Hutson and Reinbacher. Matheson would have been exchanged for a long time.
-Romanov and Guhle Ensemble, two physical defenders capable of playing big minutes. A defensive brigade capable of facing the best opposing trios without collapsing.
Instead, CH is sorely lacking in robustness and defensive stability.
And the worst? It is not even so much the exchange of the 13th choice that hurts … it is the fact of having sacrificed Romanov to obtain it.
One of the worst exchanges of the decade?
Yes, if Kirby Dach continues to collapse, this exchange will enter history as one of the worst of the last ten years.
We exchanged a NHL top-2 defender for a player who is not even a second competent center. Which is not even a short center. We lost a defensive pillar for an attacker who might no longer be with the team in the close future.
Long Island can thank Kent Hughes because today, Romanov is a centerpiece of his defensive in New York. Kent Hughes wanted to hit a circuit with this exchange. In the end, he inflicted a withdrawal on three taken.
A few years ago, Alexander Romanov was a promising young defender, but still messy. Today, he has become a real defensive rock, a player who evolves in the Icelanders top-2 and who is a centerpiece of the team’s success.
Patrick Roy, the coach who is waiting to be dismissed, is full of praise about him, and there is what. Romanov is playing an elite hockey right now, and it represents exactly what is missing in the Canadian:
Average of 25 minutes per match on its last 10 games.
A constant physical impact: it distributes impactful defeats and protects its territory.
A key role on digital disadvantage, stabilizing the defensive unit of Icelanders.
A progression transition game, allowing it to support the attack without compromising its defensive game.
Patrick Roy understood this quickly: Romanov is a complete, robust, and reliable defender.
And during this time … The Canadian looks at his own defensive game collapsed.
When Hughes sacrificed Romanov, he thought he could bet on Kaiden Guhle to fill the void left by his departure. But the big difference between the two defenders is that Romanov is a tank, while Guhle is an extremely talented player, but who falls into pieces at the slightest collision. Each season, he undergoes a new injury that slows down his development.
The Canadian could have had both, but he preferred to sacrifice Romanov … and today, he pays the price.
While Romanov, Kirby Dach is causing the Canadian down. The exchange was not only concerned Romanov and Dach. Montreal has also sacrificed a choice of fourth round (Isaiah George), which now plays in the NHL with the Islanders. Montreal gave Romanov and George … for a no center …
It is a one -way transaction. A transaction that will plumb Kent Hughes for the rest of his career.
What is the most frustrating is that Romanov would have been an essential part of the Canadian when the team is suitable for the Stanley Cup.
He has the physique, robustness, endurance and defensive stability that CH does not have at the moment. And yet, we exchanged it for a soft, nonchalant attacker, who will never become an elite center.
Kent Hughes must bite his fingers. He wanted to be clearer than everyone by sacrificing Romanov … and today, he has to face the consequences of the worst transaction of his reign.
Montreal let go of a top-2 defender for a player who does not even have his place in the top-6. A blunder that will haunt the Canadian for years.
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