Hughes: 'We're going to go with the most talented player'

MONTREAL - Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes addressed the media from KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Thursday at the NHL Combine.

Here are a few highlights from his press conference:

Please note that the questions and answers have been modified for clarity and conciseness.

Kent Hughes on the team's interview process this year compared to last season:

We made some changes. We decided to use video footage from time to time to evaluate how players read certain plays. Not for everyone though; it depends on the player. We changed a few of our questions and the emphasis that was put on each question, too, because we only have 15-20 minutes [with each player].

Someone texted me telling me we were the toughest again this year. I really didn't get the sense that there was any player that was ill at ease in an interview, so maybe we were a little more easygoing this year.

Hughes on drafting for need and targeting certain positions:

I think at the end of the day, you want the best player available. But, if we're talking about different shades of the same color - for example, if we were comparing a left-shot defenseman to a right-shot defenseman and we thought they were both of equal talent, we'd probably take the right-shot defenseman. It would be a factor, the same as if it were a right-shot or a left-shot winger, or if it were a really good goalie and we felt we didn't have enough depth in the organization. But ultimately, we're going to go with the most talented player.

Hughes on drafting a player based on their talent versus their character:

They're all important aspects, whether it's their character, their skating stride, their competitive spirit, their hockey IQ, or their on-ice abilities. Those are all components we evaluate, but that doesn't mean that every player has to be 9/10 in each category. There's always going to be one who has a stronger character or a stronger competitive spirit, and another who has a better hockey IQ. We weigh everything in the balance. We have 12 forwards and six defensemen on the ice every night in Montreal and they aren't all identical.

Hughes on the type of team you need to build to win in the playoffs:

The one thing I think we have to always be careful of is putting too much emphasis on a particular playoffs. When Pittsburgh was winning, everybody said you have to be fast. When Tampa was winning, [everybody said] you have to be skilled. Now, you've got two teams that are playing a really physical brand of hockey and [everybody is saying] we have to be physical. One thing's for sure, we have to be competitive. So, does it alter what we do at the Draft? No. All the qualities that you look for in players aren't going to change from year-to-year.

Like I said before, it's not like we have a report card and we say this player rates here in skill, skating, [hockey] sense, competitiveness, and if you don't meet this - or maybe there's one guy that's just off the charts in skill, but he's not quite as high in another area but if we think that the combination of factors makes him the best candidate, we'll do it. It's not that players have to be perfect and balanced. That's why Nick Suzuki is a different person and has different attributes than Cole Caufield, but they're two very important players to our team.

Hughes on his team's trademark question about which animal the player would choose to be:

There were some good answers. I think last year, nearly 80% of the players said a lion or tiger. Maybe everyone knew we were going to ask the question this year because there were better answers.