Elliotte Friedman Updates Lane Hutson Contract Talks After Hughes, Lacombe Extensions

In 2024/25, one of the stories of the season was Lane Hutson's emergence in Montreal and the rapid rise of this young, exciting team, and ahead of the 2025/26 season, expectations have risen with the Canadiens.

So too have the expectations for the Calder Trophy winner, who put up an impressive 6 goals and 66 points in 82 games played last year, with the entire NHL world expecting him to become one of the best defenseman in the league as he approaches his age 22 season.

Now, Elliotte Friedman has discussed Hutson's future on the 32 Thoughts podcast, noting that the two sides are putting together the framework for a deal, one that would likely come in at eight-years, and at least $9 million AAV.

That is the deal that was signed by both Luke Hughes and Jackson Lacombe lately, and after producing more than either has already in his NHL career, there's a chance that the player looks at his value and sees it as much higher than $9 million per season, especially as any deal will of eight or more years take him beyond his age 30 season.

On paper, the potential for Hutson is much higher than the two young defensemen who have signed deals in the last week, but as Marco D'Amico put it, there are ways for the Canadiens to make a $9 million AAV mean more to Hutson.

Ultimately, he proved in 2024/25 that he can be one of the best and most prolific scoring defensemen in the entire NHL, and now, it's a matter of when, not if he gets paid on a long-term deal.