By Pierre LeBrun, Arpon Basu and Rob Rossi

The Montreal Canadiens have agreed to terms on an eight-year contract extension with defenseman Lane Hutson, the team announced Monday.

Hutson’s new deal is for $70.8 million with an $8.85 million AAV and will run from the 2026-27 season to 2033-34.

“I think what it says about Lane Hutson is he likes playing in Montreal, and he wants Montreal to be in a position to win,” GM Kent Hughes said.

A 2022 second-round draft pick by Montreal, Hutson scored 66 points in 82 games last season for the Canadiens. He has one assist in three games so far this season.

The Canadiens have agreed to terms on an eight-year contract extension (2026-27 to 2033-34) with defenseman Lane Hutson.

News release ↓ #GoHabsGo https://t.co/QlsTMalOwd

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 13, 2025

Competitive future

The Canadiens stuck to their guns, and it paid off in securing a contract that fit their vision of what their salary-cap culture continues to become. The major sales pitch from Hughes toward his young star throughout this process was taking a fair deal that would allow the team to be as competitive as possible for many years.

On the one hand, the timing of the Luke Hughes and Jackson LaCombe extensions for eight years each and $9 million AAV were not ideal for the Canadiens, who made a previous eight-year offer to Hutson just before both those extensions were signed. The rejection of that eight-year offer in late September, a deal that was believed to be around $72 million in total cash but had some deferred money to bring the AAV down, led to the temperature rising in this negotiation. Things went off the rails for a bit.

But cooler heads finally prevailed, and according to league sources, both sides started to gain traction toward a deal Saturday going into Sunday. Hutson’s agent Ryan Barnes was able to get his client $55 million in signing bonuses, which is certainly a big number. But Habs management deserves props for sticking to its position. It wasn’t going to pay Hutson the kind of money some people were predicting for him (north of $9 million). The Canadiens dug in on that position and were ready to wait until next summer if they had to.

But ultimately, my understanding is that it’s the player, Hutson, who was the biggest factor in a deal finally getting done. He didn’t want his situation to hang over the team all year and be a distraction. And ultimately, he bought into what Habs management was saying about the cap culture and helping the team stay competitive for many years. So Hutson deserves a lot of credit, too. — Pierre LeBrun

Second-highest paid Canadien

Hutson becomes the second-highest paid player on the Canadiens, just below Noah Dobson’s $9.5 million a year contract that was agreed to in a sign-and-trade with the New York Islanders on the day of the NHL Draft.

“We’re very happy to have him with us. We were very happy to be able to draft him as late as we managed to get him. We consider ourselves lucky, and we’re very happy he’s going to be part of the team long-term,” Hughes said.

It was important for the Canadiens to have Hutson’s next contract at least somewhat fall in line with the rest of the core group, starting with captain Nick Suzuki, who makes $7.875 million a year. Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovský and Kaiden Guhle took contracts that fell below that number, but that was never going to happen with Hutson. The principle of taking a little less than market value to help the team win was the point. All four of those players did that for their first contract coming out of entry level, and now Hutson has as well. — Arpon Basu

Impressive rookie season

Huston is coming off an impressive rookie season. He won the Calder Trophy (top rookie), was selected to the All-Rookie team and finished ninth in voting for the Norris Trophy (best defenseman). He appeared in every game for the Canadiens, who made the Stanley Cup playoffs for only the third time since the 2017-18 season.

He is widely viewed as a cornerstone player for the Canadiens, who have what is perceived as one of the NHL’s top young cores. Suzuki and Caufield are entering their primes, while Huston is one of several players aged 22 or younger — forwards Zachary Bolduc, Ivan Demidov, Oliver Kapanen and Slafkovsky. — Rob Rossi