During the summer, several individuals were highly coveted on the free agent market. Kent Hughes had a great first off-season as GM, making several important trades that solved many problems and added some very interesting pieces for the future of the club. While Hughes didn't make any concrete moves at the free agent level, according to new and very credible information from a well-placed informant in the business, he would have tried everything to make a major acquisition. According to information reported by TSN's Pierre LeBrun, the Habs tried to acquire John Klingberg during the summer on a one-season contract. The Swedish defenseman eventually opted to sign with the Anaheim Ducks. Klingberg finally signed with Anaheim over the summer on a one-season contract worth $7 million. With the CH's lack of depth on the right side of defence, this information makes perfect sense. However, Hughes' hands were tied this offseason due to limited cap space. It's quite possible that the offensive-minded defenseman was a possible backup plan to replace Jeff Petry in the defensive line. It's nice to see that even though management played their cards right by saying they weren't interested in signing a big free agent because of the team's salary situation, Hughes still did his homework by being very active in trying to improve his roster. <blockquote class=instagram-media data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck6UvE6uYKB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading data-instgrm-version=14 style= background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);><div style=padding:16px;> <a href=https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck6UvE6uYKB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading style= background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%; target=_blank> <div style= display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;> <div style=background-color: #F4F4F4; 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padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;><a href=https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck6UvE6uYKB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading style= color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; target=_blank>Une publication partagée par Puck Empire 👑 (@puckempire)</a></div></blockquote> Crédit : <a href='https://www.fanadiens.com/equipe-lnh/canadiens-de-montreal/Kent-Hughes-est-passe-bien-pres-dacquerir-un-ancien-marqueur-de-67-points-en-defensive' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Keven Mawn, Fanadiens</a>