Canadiens Rumors: What's Going On With Lane Hutson Extension?

The Montreal Canadiens built nicely on last season by adding Noah Dobson and Zack Bolduc in the offseason, but they are still building their core and hoping to have all of the pieces there long-term. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Dobson, and Kaiden Guhle are all locked in long-term, but the next young players on the list are Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov.

After six goals and 66 points as a rookie, Hutson is going into the final year of his entry-level deal and will get a major pay raise and a long-term contract. The Canadiens have the money for it and Hutson is a very important piece.

According to Elliotte Friedman, "I don't think anyone should panic if this is not done soon. We're seeing a situation where a lot of players are resetting the market. If they go term, it's a big big number."

With the contracts of Patrik Laine, Mike Matheson, and Kirby Dach ending after this season and Brandan Gallagher and Josh Anderson the year after, the Canadiens can afford to and should absolutely go max term with Hutson. That means eight years before the rule changes over and seven years becomes the max.

Dobson was just paid a large amount by Montreal when they traded for him, but I still expect Hutson to be the number one now and in the future, getting a contract even bigger than that if his offensive numbers are just going to get higher and his defensive game is going to improve. Hutson is still 21 years old.

The cap is going to keep rising and if a contract isn't signed by Hutson during the season, expect his results to somewhat dictate where the number ends up when he then signs next offseason. If his defensive game can improve like it should with some work and he produces 65+ points again, there's no reason to think he won't get an eight-year, $10 million AAV deal, only because of the comparison to Dobson, not Slafkovsky or the top forwards.