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Lane Hutson contract: 'if he signs long-term, it will be close to Dobson,' according to Friedman

Originally posted on Dose.ca | Last updated Aug 3, 2025 1:21 PM ET

Lane Hutson’s next contract is one that fans of the Montreal Canadiens are eagerly awaiting, and we’re all anxious to see the young defenseman prodigy under contract for several seasons with the Habs, as we all want to see him continue to impress the gallery with every appearance in the colors of the Habs.

Still, there’s no stress in the matter, given that Hutson still has a full season left on his NHL entry-level contract, but we all expect Kent Hughes to succeed in signing Hutson this summer, a year ahead of schedule, as he did with Juraj Slafkovsky and Kaiden Guhle.

Compared to the other two young players, the deal is a little slow, but that’s probably due to a change in the fee structure, linked to the Habs’ major acquisition this summer: originally, the Canadiens’ plan was surely to sign Hutson on a medium/long-term basis for less than Nick Suzuki’s captaincy, i.e. less than $8.875 million a year.

but the arrival of Noah Dobson changed those plans, and set a new scale for Hutson, according to Elliotte Friedman.

32 Thoughts Mid-Summer Check-in — featuring Nashville’s Spencer Stastney. Stastney, who missed the beginning of last season, is telling his story to help others. He’s a tremendous interview, with some great stories in addition to his primary goal. Hope everyone is having a… –

Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 3, 2025

[content-ads] Indeed, as he explains in his recent episode of “32 Thoughts”, Friedman believes that from now on, with Dobson on the Habs’ payroll, Hutson’s contract will be very close to Dobson’s ($9.5M x 8 years) if #48 signs long-term.

In the end, this makes perfect sense, given that Noah Dobson will be the club’s first right-handed defenseman, while Hutson will be the Habs’ first left-handed defenseman, so they’ll represent the team’s two best defensemen, and therefore deserve to be paid more or less the same amount of money.

Of course, you have to consider that Dobson’s long-term contract (age 25) buys several years of complete autonomy, much more than the long-term contract that Hutson (age 22 when his next contract comes into effect) could sign.

But even so, we can expect Hutson to sign for only slightly less than Dobson if he agrees to commit to the Habs for 7-8 years. Friedman also points out that there’s been a big “reset” in the market, with the salary cap rising and set to continue rising, which clearly influences contract negotiations.

In short, we can expect to see Hutson sign much closer to Dobson’s $9.5 M than Suzuki’s $8.875 M. In the end, I don’t think anyone would cry if Hutson signed for eight years at $9 M. [spacer title=’Overtime’] – Unbelievable.

all in all i think mario lemieux’s 2002-03 season is one of the most impressive in NHL history

37 years old, 91 points in 67 games (111 pace which would have led the league, 124 pace era-adjusted) on a team that went 22-35-5-5 in the games he played – JFresh (@JFreshHockey) August 3, 2025