Lane Hutson is very good at keeping a secret.
The Canadiens defenceman hit the ice for practice Monday morning at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard after having just signed an eight-year, US$70.8-million contract extension that will carry an annual salary-cap hit of US$8.85 million starting next season.
The 21-year-old didn’t tell any of his teammates.
Head coach Martin St. Louis was aware the team would make the contract announcement just as practice was starting, but waited until the end of the session to let Hutson’s teammates know. St. Louis told Hutson to go do a lap around the rink while he gave the good news to his teammates.
“I think Lane was happy to do a lap,” St. Louis said with a grin. “He likes skating.”
After Hutson finished his lap, he was swarmed by teammates.
“I had no idea,” captain Nick Suzuki said after practice. “Lane kept it pretty tight.”
The way Hutson’s teammates celebrated with him at the end of practice put a big smile on St. Louis’s face and spoke volumes about the culture this team has built during a three-year rebuilding process.
“You saw the reaction,” St. Louis said. “It was actually a great moment for not just Lane, but the team. It was like an overtime goal celebration coming off the bench. Kind of speaks volumes a little bit.
“You can’t force culture,” St. Louis added. “You can only try to grow it. And growing it, you have to take care of it. You have to plant the seeds, you have to water it, you have to give it a little sunshine. There’s so many things that you need to do. But if you take care of the right stuff, it’s going to grow. And I feel like we’ve seen it growing. It’s hard to pinpoint and explain culture. There’s just a feeling around it that just comes to fruition for all the daily actions you do to take care of it, whatever that is. But we spend a lot of time making sure that we’re growing our culture.”
Hutson, who won the Calder Trophy last season as the NHL’s top rookie after posting 6-60-66 totals and playing in all 82 games, is in the final season of his NHL entry-level contract with a US$950,000 salary-cap hit. The only Canadien earning more than Hutson will earn starting next season is fellow defenceman Noah Dobson, who has a US$9.5 million salary-cap hit on the eight-year, US$76-million contract he agreed to before being traded this summer from the New York Islanders to the Canadiens.
With his new contract, Hutson will earn more than Suzuki, who is in the fourth season of his eight-year, US$63-million contract with an annual salary-cap hit of US$7.875 million.
“I really couldn’t care less who makes what and who’s the highest (paid),” Suzuki said. “It doesn’t really matter. I signed four years ago and I knew I was going to be locked in. I’m perfectly fine.
“I always love to see guys get paid and get what they’re worth,” Suzuki added. “We’ve kind of built a culture here where guys are not trying to break the bank. I think all Lane wants to do is win and I think he’s definitely set us up for that possibility moving on in the future.”
Hutson said he made it clear to his agents that he wanted to stay in Montreal for a long time.
“I left it to Sean Coffey and Ryan Barnes (of Quartexx Management) and they did a great job,” Hutson said. “I’m just glad we were able to get it done. Kent (GM Kent Hughes) and Gorts (Jeff Gorton, the executive vice-president of hockey operations) are good at their job and they did their job, too. … You can’t put into words how thankful I am for Ryan Barnes, Sean Coffey and my family supporting me and Kent and Gorts and Mr. (Geoff) Molson doing their part as well.
“I have belief that we aren’t far off from being a team that can be a Stanley Cup championship team and not just once,” Hutson added. “Hopefully, we continue to do it. Just kind of the belief I have in this group and the staff, coaches, everything we have in place. I think we’re heading in a great direction.”
Hughes noted that Dobson — the highest-paid player on the team — was in a different situation from Hutson, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky, whom the GM was also able to lock up with eight-year contracts as they were coming off their NHL entry-level deals. Caufield and Slafkovsky both signed for slightly less than Suzuki’s annual cap hit of US$7.875 million. Ivan Demidov, whose entry-level deal expires after next season, is the next young player Hughes will be looking to lock up long-term while also keeping enough money for future free agents if needed.
“Where we think there’s an opportunity — as there was this summer with Noah Dobson — we were going to have to pay a significant (amount),” Hughes said. “The reality is if you go into the open market, you’re going to have to pay. Our hope is that we are able to build this team as much as possible internally. But when you have a young group of players that are committed to this team, I think we owe it to them — that if we believe there’s a hole in the lineup that’s needed to be filled in order to have a championship calibre team — that we’re going to have to do that.”
That’s what Hughes did with Dobson.
Hughes said it was important for Hutson’s new contract to be received well in the locker room — and it obviously was.
“One of the things that we’ve talked a lot about is trying to build a culture here and a culture where everybody’s pulling in the right direction,” Hughes said. “That’s really critical in my opinion.”
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