It’s the middle of summer! Habs fans are already counting the days until the chill returns to the air, the leaves have changed color and frost is starting to appear on the pumpkins. It’s just 80 days until the start of the Montreal Canadiens regular season.
This week, the NHL released its 2025-25 schedule and General Manager, Kent Hughes added a depth center to an already full roster. So, it’s tempting for Habs fans to believe that the work of management has been done. All that’s left to do is for Montrealers to post their opening night lineups on X, order their tickets, enjoy the summer sun, and impatiently wait for the next two-and-a-half months to pass. Or should we all be expecting additional moves from Habs management?
Is this edition of the Montreal Canadiens truly set? Or are we looking at an unfinished Hughes/Gorton masterpiece?
In this week’s episode of the Canadiens Connection podcast, we examine recent comments by Jeff Gorton, Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations and John Sedgwick, Assistant General Manager to answer those questions, extracting clues about what may unfold for the club over the coming months.
NEW PODCAST: Habs Plan in Progress: Decoding the Hughes – Gorton Blueprint | Canadiens Connection episode 357
We discuss the signing of 25-year-old forward Joe Veleno, the release of Montreal’s 2025-26 regular season schedule and recent prospect rankings. We conclude the show with a selection of comments and questions received from our viewers and listeners this past week.
CC Question of the Week: If you had to guess, what’s the next big move Kent Hughes is planning for the Montreal Canadiens?
It is our eighth season, with a new episode of the podcast dropping every Saturday afternoon throughout the summer. Be sure to subscribe using your favorite podcast app!
Canadiens Connection podcast: Making sense of the Habs team building puzzle
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