\u201cIt\u2019s been good. You know, it\u2019s not a full-time job like those guys; obviously, they\u2019re in the thick of things and in the day-to-day part of it with the players,\u201d Lecavalier said. \u201cBut working with the draft the last few years has been a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The role also includes advising the GM on players around the league amidst potential trade discussions. That\u2019s been the case from Day 1 four years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he has a question or a decision to make, we\u2019ll talk about it, or I\u2019ll look at guys,\u201d Lecavalier said. \u201cBut then after that, he makes those big decisions. I think he\u2019s surrounded himself with people he trusts to make the best decisions possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lecavalier has filed reports on plenty of NHL players that never see the light of day in actual trades. But that\u2019s the nature of the prep work needed to stay ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe like one-tenth of the things we talked about may happen, but Kent wants to know about guys and wants different opinions before he makes his own decisions,\u201d said Lecavalier. \u201cBut I have to do my own homework and look into the player and really look into not just what the player is doing this year but the last couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which is to say, Lecavalier wants to give his boss very in-depth reports on players \u2014 and he\u2019s done that from the moment Hughes came on as GM.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have known and worked closely with Vinny for close to 30 years,\u201d Hughes told The Athletic. \u201cI trust him implicitly as a person and I trust his hockey mind. He has been a terrific sounding board for me on decisions and has assisted with player evaluations, special assignments, effectively whatever we ask him to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watching St. Louis thrive as head coach has also been special for Lecavalier, not that he\u2019s surprised one bit. Though the Canadiens hiring St. Louis as interim coach in February 2022 was a stunner to so many, it wasn\u2019t to Lecavalier. He saw a coach in the making more than 20 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you really know him and been around him, you would know that he\u2019s always been a coach at heart,\u201d Lecavalier said. \u201cHe almost had a marker in his pants as a player at intermission; he could certainly draw something up on the white board about certain plays. For me, I got a firsthand look at that playing with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Lecavalier](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-50950436-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Vincent Lecavalier says his Tampa Bay Lightning teammate Martin St. Louis was a coach on the ice well before he became an NHL head coach. (Harry How \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
They weren\u2019t immediately linemates in Tampa, but when that eventually did happen, it was like having a coach on his line, Lecavalier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018Wow.\u2019 There was a lot of talking on the bench and a lot of teaching,\u201d Lecavalier recalls. \u201cHe was teaching me a lot. The knowledge of the game that he has, he brought me to another level, if you know what I mean. Things that I never even thought about, or plays and how to do things, pushing the pace, he was really a coach at heart. I know he was a Hall of Fame player, but he\u2019s just as good as a coach, if not even better.\u201d<\/p>\n
All of which is why, as surprising as it was to the outside world when St. Louis got the Habs coaching nod, it certainly wasn\u2019t stunning to those making that decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cKent and I had been talking a lot about that \u2014 was Marty ready to go from peewee to the NHL? \u2014 and we know there would be some adjustments, I guess,\u201d Lecavalier said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things going on on an NHL bench. Things are a lot quicker. But we knew from Kent knowing him (and coaching against St. Louis with their boys\u2019 hockey) and myself knowing him, that he would adjust. And I think it was the perfect timing. We didn\u2019t have to be a Stanley Cup contender the first month that he was there, you know? We had a little bit of runway of him adapting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lecavalier said they would know after half a year where St. Louis would be. It was clear in a hurry.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we knew all along, there\u2019s a lot of good coaches out there, but we knew that Marty could take it to another level,\u201d Lecavalier said. \u201cHis ceiling was so high with all the knowledge. You know, when we try to draft a player, we look at their ceiling, right? We knew Marty\u2019s (coaching) ceiling was really high. He just needed time. And obviously, he\u2019s proved everybody (in the Habs organization) right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, before all that happened, one month earlier in January 2022, there was also the matter of Lecavalier\u2019s longtime agent informing him he might be the Canadiens\u2019 next GM.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018You better take it,\u201d\u2018 Lecavalier, laughing, says he told Hughes. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s totally different than what he was doing, but at the same time, he knew everything about it because he dealt with GMs every day. He dealt with teams every single day. He knows the business. And for me, Kent is a great hockey mind as well. He could actually be a pretty darn good coach. And overall in the business of things and running a team and letting guys blossom, he\u2019s great at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe puts the right people in the right place for them to be as good as they can be. He\u2019s great at that. That\u2019s what a great GM is. He\u2019s just a smart guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s another trait Lecavalier feels serves Hughes well in his GM role.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s honest. He\u2019s not a salesman,\u201d Lecavalier said. \u201cHe\u2019s just an honest guy and he does things the right way, and people really respect that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, there\u2019s probably no one more relieved that the first-round series with Tampa Bay is over. Lecavalier is a legacy player in that market, having led the team to its first Stanley Cup win in 2004, and still lives there and is part of that community. So, yeah, that was something else, being part of a series like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you work for a team and you\u2019re part of something, I just wanted to win, I wanted to win for Montreal, for the fans, for the team, for Kent and Marty, for the players,\u201d Lecavalier said. \u201cTampa\u2019s a great team. I go to a lot of games there, right? And they treat me so well over there. So, obviously, I have all the respect for that organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut once that series started, obviously I wanted to win, and we did,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cGetting texts from buddies (who live in Tampa) nonstop during the series, it made it even more a battle, I guess. But it was one of the best series I\u2019ve seen overall. Like, just great hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Fans](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274087123-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n These Canadiens have something special, as Vincent Lecavalier saw in Round 1 against his old team, the Tampa Bay Lightning. (Minas Panagiotakis \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Bigger picture, the sky\u2019s the limit for this young Habs team.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, we had a little success, but I guess the question was, can we do it again, right?\u201d said Lecavalier. \u201cI remember talking to a lot of people before the season saying, \u2018Yeah, we had a great year, but now we have to back it up.\u2019 Are we building bricks, adding to the foundation? We all thought we were, but until you start that next season, you never know where it\u2019s going, right? Young teams can lose confidence. But the team has shown all year how resilient they are. They just battle. They figure out ways to win.\u201d<\/p>\n