Welcome back to another edition of NHL Rumours from the crew at Last Word on Hockey. We’re in the dog days of summer but the rumours are still swirling around the league. This edition of NHL rumours focuses on the latest contract talks between the Montreal Canadiens and Calder Trophy winner, Lane Hutson.
All NHL Rumours come from their original source and are subject to change.
NHL Rumours: Examining Lane Hutson’s Next Contract with the Habs
Rumour: On the most recent edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman mentions that while the Canadiens would like for Hutson’s contract to be under the AAV that Nick Suzuki is getting, the recent signing of Noah Dobson is likely going to have that number closer to the $9.5 million AAV that he is getting.
Analysis: In a perfect world, Kent Hughes and the Canadiens would get Hutson locked up for under $7.875 million. However, a Calder Trophy, the acquisition of Dobson and his extension to go along with a rise in the salary cap are going to make that all but impossible at this point.
Even if the two sides meet at or near $9.5 million, that’s still a solid deal for both the Canadiens and Hutson. What Hutson brings to the Canadiens’ lineup is pure brilliance. He’s an offensive dynamo, which was showcased by his six goals and 66 points in his rookie season. This was good for third amongst Canadiens players, behind only Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. It also put him tied for sixth league-wide amongst defencemen. He also led the Canadiens in points during their first-round series against the first-place Washington Capitals with five points in five games.
But it’s his skating, elusiveness and high-end hockey IQ that separates him from other defencemen around the league. He has that “Wow factor” and puts the fans in awe at some point in every game. Hutson has already established himself as one of the premier power-play quarterbacks in the league. While we need to remember it’s a small sample size, what he showed each game last season isn’t something that just comes and goes. That was a sample of the player Lane Hutson has always been known to be, and any questions if he could make it translate to the NHL level were answered immediately.
The fact that he lives at the rink and is always working on his craft is just more of a reason for us to believe he’s going to follow up his Calder trophy season with an even better one in 2025-26.
How Much Will it Cost to Get Hutson Under Contract?
Friedman mentions how the market is getting a reset with the cap on the rise. While this certainly won’t cause problems getting the players to sign, it does make finding the sweet spot for these contracts a little more difficult. This will certainly be the most difficult part of the negotiations with Hutson.
The $9.5 number that his counterpart Noah Dobson received made him the sixth-highest-paid defenceman in the league. What needs to be mentioned, though, is that Dobson left money on the table to come to Montreal. He could have made more. Which could help or hurt the Canadiens’ chances to get Hutson at that same dollar value. Hutson is already a part of the organization. If he wants more, he can certainly command it.
However, Hutson loves to win. And as the Florida Panthers have been showing, the best way to win, is to not get greedy and keep the group together. It may not be as easy to do in Canada due to the taxes, but the Canadiens are still building something special in Montreal. The other players like Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky and now Dobson are buying in. While the Stanley Cup is one of, if not the hardest trophy to win in professional sports, fans have to believe the Montreal Canadiens will at least be a solid contender in the near future. Hutson will certainly want to be a part of that and will be a crucial piece of the puzzle.
While it’s impossible to predict an exact number for a contract of this magnitude, it will likely end up coming in somewhere between the $11 million per year Rasmus Dahlin is currently getting and Noah Dobson’s new $9.5 million deal. Which all things considered, would be a win for both sides.
Main Photo: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
The post NHL Rumours: Contract Expectations for Lane Hutson and the Montreal Canadiens appeared first on Last Word On Hockey.