2 days Ago
LAS VEGAS — As executive vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton made his way to a conference room Thursday at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas hotel, on the opposite side of the very same building, the finalists for the NHL Awards were walking the red carpet. This was not a scheduling conflict, because the Canadiens didn’t have any finalists for those awards. Advertisement Gorton would like to change that at some point, a process that continues this weekend as the Canadiens juggle numerous balls in trying to kick their rebuild into another gear.
There is the matter of the No. 5 pick in the draft itself, and there is no point further debating that point because no one knows what the Canadiens will do with that pick, not even the Canadiens. “I know Kent made a big speech about taking a forward to have fun with you guys,” said Gorton, referring to general manager Kent Hughes, who is usually the one speaking to the media on days like this.
“It’s very hard. This is a day before the draft, there’s a lot of cameras here, a lot of people here, so to say what we’re going to do, I’m always uncomfortable with that. “I do go with the philosophy of best player available, we’ll see how it plays out (Friday).
” That answer might be a clue as to why it was in fact Gorton and not Hughes talking Thursday. Gorton knows how to speak without really saying anything, and Hughes has not quite developed that skill yet. And this is a draft where the Canadiens, because of all.
