Rumor: NHL agent being targeted as candidate for Canadiens GM job.

The Montreal Canadiens made some sweeping changes to their front office last week when Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson announced that he had fired general manager Marc Bergevin and much of his staff, while also announcing the addition of former New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton as executive vice president of hockey operations.

The move represented a major shift in the direction of the team and although it is not entirely clear which direction the team will now be headed in, it's clear more changes are on the way. The biggest change will likely come in the form of the appointment of a new general manager to replace Bergevin, something that the Canadiens somewhat surprisingly seem to be in no hurry to do.

Over the weekend we learned that the Canadiens would be looking at what would normally be considered some outside of the box type of candidates, with National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman revealing one particularly interesting name during Saturday night's NHL broadcast.

"So Jeff Gorton had an interesting comment... one of the things he talked about was the possibility of somebody different as a GM, maybe an agent," said Friedman on Saturday. "The person who I believe they are interested in who is an agent is Kent Hughes. He's born in Montreal, he is bilingual, now in the Boston area so there is a connection to Gorton from both of them being around there. Among his client list include Patrice Bergeron, Kris Letang and formerly Vincent Lecavalier. The agency is Cortex, I think he is on Montreal's radar as a candidate."

There are many fans in Montreal who have held out hope about the possibility of seeing Patrice Bergeron one day play for the Canadiens in his home province, and bringing his agent into the fold would certainly be one way to quickly establish a relationship with that player. That being said Friedman also added that all of this is still in the early stages, indicating that the Canadiens have not even begun to reach out to potential candidates yet.

"Now from what I've been told there's been no contact at this point in time... but I do think he is one of the agents, or the agent, on Montreal's radar," said Friedman in conclusion.