The Montreal Canadiens knew they had a drafted a special player when they spoke Lane Hutson’s name toward the end of the second round in the 2022 NHL Draft.

He set records at every level, and despite many stating his physiology wouldn’t translate to an athlete that could thrive in the NHL, Hutson’s rookie season should end with a well-deserved Calder Trophy win.

However, the flip side of the situations is that Hutson is gearing up for one of the most expensive contracts in team history, a deal that could be signed as early as July 1.

Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton briefly discussed the situation on Monday, suggesting they’d like to get the issue settled within a reasonable time frame.

Lane Hutson Comparable Contract Caveat

Before we start discussing comparable contracts, we should establish a few things that will help everyone get on the same page. The NHL’s salary cap is going up, way up. This means there will be a clear discrepancy between the contracts signed prior to the increase, and those signed afterward.

ON TOPIC: Montreal Canadiens Projected Cap Space Heading Into 2025

It’s important to remember, because the Habs attempted to create a salary structure in previous years that keeps captain Nick Suzuki at the top of the list. You’ll note both Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky signed extensions that were slightly below Suzuki’s.

That’s possible in a relatively flat-cap world, but that’s no longer the reality of the NHL’s salary cap landscape, which means we need to use something other than cap hits to project how much a certain player will command.

Thankfully, there’s an easy fix.

We can simply focus on cap percentage, rather than the raw hit.

For example, Suzuki’s cap hit is $7.875 million, which equates to 8.9 percent.

If the Canadiens were to invest 8.9 percent of the salary cap in one player next season, it would cost them $8.5 million. The following season, which is expected to see the cap rise to $104 million, would result in a contract carrying in a $9.25 million annual average value (AAV).

Finding Similar Deals

For now, we’re going to assume both camps are interested in an 8-year extension, rather than a bridge deal.

With the help of our good friends over at Cap Wages, we can quickly establish which contracts can be used to project Hutson’s extension. I’d like to thank Cap Wages for the help they offered. They went out of their way to answer all my questions, a rarity these days. If you get a chance, check out their site. It’s a great resource and the layout is very user-friendly. Their comparable contracts are provided by AFPanalytics.

RESOURCE: Cap Wages – NHL Salary Cap Information

Four different contracts are offered as decent comparables, though we must keep in mind it’s not an exact science. Hutson put together one of the most impressive rookie seasons in league history, which means he could command much more than his NHL counterparts.

The four names listed as good comparables: Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Owen Power, and Thomas Chabot.

It’s a nice mix of elite defencemen and high-end puck carriers.

Again, we won’t focus on how much they make per season, but rather, the cap percentage.

Makar’s deal was 10.2 percent, Hughes’ was 8.9 percent, Power landed at 9.5 percent, and Chabot settled-in at 9.1 percent.

They’re all in a similar range, which means we can quickly establish a potential percentage for a Hutson contract at 9.4 percent.

The last thing we want to keep in mind is the timing of the contract. The Canadiens can re-sign Hutson as early as July 1, but his entry-level contract will last until 2025-26, which means we have to use the projected salary cap for 2026-27, currently set at $104 million.

9.4 percent of the projected salary cap in 2026-27 is $9.77 million.

Therefore, based on the comparable deals, we can expect Lane Hutson to sign an eight-year extension that carries an AAV of $9.77 million per season. That would be more than Suzuki makes per season, but their cap percentage hits would be very similar.

If the Canadiens were to sign Hutson for the same cap percentage as Makar got in 2021-22, it would result in a contract for Hutson that carries an $10.6 million AAV.

We should note that Kent Hughes tends to convince players to sign good-value deals, which may have an impact in the upcoming contract negotiations, but given that Hutson’s statistics are generational, his penchant for saving money will likely be counterbalanced by his player’s elite potential.

WOW!

End-to-end beauty!!

It’s Lane Hutson’s world, we’re just living in it.

2-1 #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/kdPirGJei2

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 6, 2025