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Kent Hughes reveals Don Waddell made an unprecedented move during Patrik Laine trade talks
Photo credit: Nhl.com
During a press conference, Montreal Canadiens General Manager Kent Hughes shared an interesting detail related to the Patrik Laine trade.
The Columbus Blue Jackets' GM, Don Waddell, granted him permission that he had never received before.
It was the first time in his career that this had happened. (for Kent Hughes)
Hughes revealed that he was able to speak with Patrik Laine, the player involved in the negotiations, even before the trade was finalized.
Laine was still under contract for two more seasons.
Sometimes, a GM will allow another GM to speak with a player when the player involved is a restricted free agent (RFA) or if contract negotiations are necessary, but that wasn't the case here at all.
Don Waddell simply did Kent Hughes a favor to facilitate the trade.
Kent Hughes praised Don Waddell for the favor before finalizing the Patrik Laine trade
And Kent Hughes indeed mentioned it several times during the press conference.
He thanked Waddell for his kindness and mentioned that Waddell had been quite a gentleman in allowing him to speak with Patrik Laine.
"General Manager Kent Hughes says that Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell allowed him, along with Jeff Gorton and Martin St-Louis, to speak directly with Laine over the weekend to have the conversations they felt were necessary to be comfortable moving forward with the trade."
- Via Priyanta Emrith
- Via Priyanta Emrith
And confirmation from Renaud Lavoie:
Clearly, these discussions were constructive and helped move things forward in acquiring forward Patrik Laine.
It's great to see that not only did Kent Hughes speak with him, but Jeff Gorton and Martin St-Louis also had the opportunity to talk with Patrik Laine.
They really did their homework.
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