The Montreal Canadiens have a special player on their hands, and that player is defenseman Lane Hutson. He is already in the Calder Trophy conversation as the best rookie in the NHL. Depending on who you ask, he is in the clubhouse with Macklin Celebrini, Dustin Wolf, and Matvei Michkov.
However, besides the Calder Trophy and the push to the playoffs, Canadiens management will have to decide what they want to do with Hutson after this season. Hutson will enter year three of his entry-level deal that carries an annual average value of $950,000.
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He is eligible to sign an extension on July 1st, and the Canadiens could follow a similar pattern as they did with Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky and Kaiden Guhle. All those players signed in the final year of their entry-level deals and were signed to long-term contract extensions. All four got long-term deals from the Montreal Canadiens.
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period was on TSN Radio in Montreal and was asked about Lane Hutson and his next contract with the Montreal Canadiens. It is believed that they will follow a similar pattern with Hutson.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Host: “What about the contract? Do you think it gets done the same way that Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky’s contracts got done a little bit quicker, longer-term?”
Dave Pagnotta: “I think so. I mean, it would certainly align and kind of stay on the course that the Canadiens have gone with their young star talent. So I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if you know, once they come down to negotiations and nitty-gritty, that would be their preference. Obviously, we’ll see where things go there. He’s not eligible to sign until July 1st. Hutson is, but I do think that’s the preference. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if they go in that direction.
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The question will be what Hutson will get. There are comparisons to Quinn Hughes out of Vancouver, especially the way he dominates on the ice from the backend. Hughes got $7.85 million on an AAV coming out of entry level with the Canucks. Brock Faber with the Minnesota Wild has an AAV of $8.5 million on his next contract, which begins next year. It is unclear if Hutson gets as high as $9 million; that is what Cale Makar got from the Colorado Avalanche.
However, Hutson could be a middle ground between Hughes and Faber. Kaiden Guhle’s new contract with the Canadiens starts next season, and he will be paid $5.55 million on AAV. So you know it will be higher than that. Right now, the Canadiens have a structure set up with their young players. Captain Nick Suzuki, whose AAV is $7.875 million, is the highest of the young core.
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Patrik Laine, at $8.70 million, has the highest active cap hit on the team. Caufield and Slafkovsky follow Suzuki. You would think Hutson might go above Slafkovsky and just under Caufield, but with the way he is playing and carrying the backend, he might have earned himself $8 million a season.”
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