RALEIGH, N.C. — Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes arrived in North Carolina on Wednesday and was asked to reflect on what he’s liked the most about building a team that finds itself in the Eastern Conference final a little more than four years after he took the job.Hughes began by saying he initially didn’t want to leave his job as a player agent, didn’t want this job, but Canadiens president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton essentially guilted him into it, suggesting Hughes had spent 20 years telling GMs how to run their teams, so maybe it was time for him to “put his neck on the line.”But primarily, what Gorton told Hughes back then was that he would be taking over a rebuilding team, and therefore, he would have his fingerprints all over it.“I’m really happy I took the job,” Hughes said at the Canadiens’ hotel Wednesday, a day before the start of the conference final series against the Carolina Hurricanes. “It’s probably been the best four and a half years of my professional career. I really liked having the chance to be an agent, but at my core, I’m someone who is much more interested in how to build a team. I’m proud of where we are.”Hughes’ first draft was in 2022 in Montreal, and the Canadiens had the No. 1 pick. The pressure on that pick was enormous, especially since there was no clear consensus No. 1 prospect that year. The Canadiens boldly selected Juraj Slafkovský with that first pick, and despite the doubts in the pick both at the time and the two years that followed, the Canadiens have been proven correct in making that pick.But while Slafkovský has been a very impactful player for the Canadiens, one who is coming off his first 30-goal season and continues to grow his game, it is the player Hughes took with the No. 62 pick that has proven to be his boldest move.Hughes knew Lane Hutson for a long time — he played in the same birth year as Hughes’ son, Jack, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings that year, 11 picks ahead of Hutson.But back then, neither Hughes nor Gorton nor amateur scouting directors Nick Bobrov and Martin Lapointe could have possibly foreseen what Hutson has already become.The offence was obvious. It is Hutson’s defence in only his second season in the NHL that has become a remarkable trait.“You have hockey players that you watch coming up through the ranks, especially those that are extremely talented offensively, I think at lower levels, a lot of their energy is devoted more to the offensive side of the game,” Hughes said. “The work ethic was always obvious. You get to the National Hockey League and you realize it’s hard to score goals, you can’t afford to give up goals and start behind the eight ball. It’s probably required Lane to be more balanced in his approach.“The underlying thing for him is his quickness lets him be effective offensively and lets him be effective defensively. He does it in a different way, he always did.”