Why Canadiens’ Lane Hutson’s new contract is good for everyone involved

The trend of massive contract extensions rolled on Monday as the Montreal Canadiens announced that the team has agreed to terms on an eight-year contract extension for defenseman Lane Hutson.

Hutson, last year’s Calder Trophy winner as the NHL’s top rookie, will make an average of $8.85 million per year under the terms of the contract that will kick in next year and run through the 2033-34 season.

Hutson, alongside fellow young stars Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky, led the Canadiens back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year after a successful rebuild process.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed what the deal means for Hutson and how it reflects on a Montreal front office that has moved quickly to lock up many of the key pieces of its talented young core.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s start with the breaking news from this morning. A big, big extension… this one goes to Lane Hutson, the Calder Trophy winner has an eight-year deal with the Montreal Canadiens at an $8.85 million AAV, and I’ll be honest, Hutts, this is pretty surprising to me. The fact that Kent Hughes and Co. got this thing done for $8.85, I give them a lot of kudos.

Carter Hutton: Yeah, this is good. Everybody was trying to forecast this deal and where the numbers were going to be. This is a good deal for him, he still gets in on that eight-year term. $8.85 is still a ton of money. As I look at this team, and look at them being the youngest team in the NHL right now… they have a young squad and their guys are locked up. Caufield, 2031. Suzuki, 2030. Slafkovsky, 2033. Dobson, 2033. Guhle 2031, and now Hutson, 2034. So those are six key guys.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…