Montreal’s Cap Strategy: Canadiens Face Hutson Contract Dilemma

As the NHL salary cap begins to rise significantly, young restricted free agents are finding themselves at the heart of a shifting contract landscape.

For the Montreal Canadiens and defenseman Lane Hutson , that means determining a new contract that reflects his actual valuewithout disrupting the teams internal structure.

While fans eagerly await an extension for the skilled blueliner, Elliotte Friedman noted on his latest 32 Thoughts podcast episode that the Canadiens initially hoped to keep Hutsons number under Nick Suzuki s $7.875 million cap hit.

Suzuki, the teams captain and centerpiece forward, has been the financial benchmark for Montreals core.

However, the market has moved.

A contract like Noah Dobson seight years at $9.5 million per season signed this summeris now seen as a more realistic comp, which creates potential issues for the Canadiens and their contract negotiations moving forward.

As one insider put it, teams and players are still figuring out the new sweet spot for long-term RFA deals, especially as they try to project future jumps in the salary cap.

The good news is that Hutson is one of the few big deals the Canadiens have to worry about.

Most of their key players are locked into what will be viewed as team-friendly deals over the next few seasons.

Still, the Canadiens may ultimately have to accept that Hutsons extension will land well above Suzukis figure, especially as the 2025-26 offseason sees another leap in the salary cap.

Comparable defensemen will ink richer deals, and Hutson may be the best among them.

Should Canadiens Push for Hutson Contract Extension, Or Will Hutson Wait? As is the case with many teams that have big-name UFA and RFA players waiting for the market to sort itself out, this is a fluid situation in Montreal.

Hutsons extension may be about timing.

But with each passing day, the pressure grows on the Canadiens to strike a balance between rewarding a future star and preserving the peace on what players are being paid already by the team.

Lane Hutsons next contract wont just shape his futureit might quietly reshape Montreals.

This article first appeared on NHL Trade Talk and was syndicated with permission..

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