Kent Hughes has had a busy summer so far. Although the Canadiens won't be looking much different this year, he's still signed 13 players, not counting the negotiations that didn't come to fruition. The good news for him is that he can now rest, while everyone in-house is now under contract. Next summer, there won't be as much work for Hughes, but one issue will be paramount, and that's extending Samuel Montembeault's contract. After the World Championship, the principal interested party admitted that he would like to settle this matter before the start of the regular season. Sam is happy in Montreal and wants to stay here. For Kent Hughes, the plan was to come to an agreement with his autonomous restricted players before starting negotiations with number 35. Now that everyone's signed, it's time to get started. <blockquote class=twitter-tweet><p lang=fr dir=ltr>Kent Hughes says he intends to settle the cases of Newhook, Harvey-Pinard and Ylönen before starting discussions with Montembeault.- Marc Antoine Godin (@MAGodin) <a href=https://twitter.com/MAGodin/status/1675206043893219328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>July 1, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js charset=utf-8> The Wild may well have given Kent Hughes a good base with the signing of Filip Gustavsson. The goaltender doesn't have much NHL experience, but he really made his mark in 2022-23, just like Samuel. Although the Wild goalie had better numbers, he had a much better team in front of him too. Gustavsson signed a three-year deal worth 3.75 million per season. I don't think Montembeault will earn that much, but he could well sign for around 3 million. The comparison between the two goalkeepers is quite fair. <blockquote class=twitter-tweet><p lang=en dir=ltr>🗣️ ALL ABOARD! 🚌 <br><br>We've signed goaltender Filip Gustavsson to a 3 year, $11.25M contract!<br><br>Full details <a href=https://t.co/njnkbosiAz>https://t.co/njnkbosiAz</a><a href=https://twitter.com/hashtag/mnwild?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#mnwild</a> <a href=https://t.co/b2nnhls4Nh>pic.twitter.com/b2nnhls4Nh</a>- Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) <a href=https://twitter.com/mnwild/status/1686055401832300556?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>July 31, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js charset=utf-8>