Key Takeaways
- Montreal Canadiens youngster Lane Hutson will be an RFA next summer, and sources tell RG that early negotiations on a new contract are very amicable.
- He's been eligible to sign an extension since July 1, and there are a few factors to consider in terms of how much Hutson will be paid.
- While there have been some comparisons to Noah Dobson's new deal with the Habs, there's a reason why Hutson's payday could be slightly different.
Canadiens defenceman Lane Hutson (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
Lane Hutson’s upcoming contract is already becoming one of the most closely watched topics in Montreal’s offseason planning. The 21-year-old defenseman will be a restricted free agent next summer, but under NHL rules, he’s been eligible to sign an extension as early as July 1 of this year. That means the Canadiens can get ahead of the market if they choose, locking in one of their brightest young stars before he hits the final year of his entry-level deal.
Hutson’s value is rising quickly after a strong NHL debut and an impressive college career, but because of his age and contractual status, negotiations will follow a different playbook compared to veterans or players closer to unrestricted free agency. For Montreal, the decision isn’t about whether to sign him — that’s a given — but rather about finding the right term and cap hit in a market that is changing in a major way.
Dobson Deal Impacting Hutson Contract?
The recent contract signed by Noah Dobson at $9.5M for the next eight years in this summer’s infamous sign-and-trade has naturally been brought up in Hutson extension speculation. Although Hutson looks primed to be one of the most exciting defensemen in hockey for many years to come, insiders caution against a direct one-to-one contract comparison between the young rearguard and his new teammate.
Montreal fans are familiar with Dobson’s profile — a right-shot defenseman who can run a power play, chew up heavy minutes, and match up against top lines. Those kinds of players are among the most sought-after in the NHL, and when they approach unrestricted free agency, their value skyrockets. The Canadiens recognized this and moved quickly to secure Dobson before the Columbus Blue Jackets could finalize a deal for his services with the New York Islanders.
“Dobson is at a different point in his career than Hutson, not to say one is better than the other. But, in the world of contracts, RFA years are worth substantially less than UFA years, and teams generally have to fork up more money for those years when a player could have tested free agency,” said a source.
Dobson’s circumstances created a perfect storm for a higher payout. He’s a right-shot defenseman — one of the most coveted commodities in the league — who logs heavy minutes against top competition. Add to the fact that he was just a year away from becoming an unrestricted free agent, and the Islanders/Canadiens knew they would have had to pay a premium to keep him off the open market.
“So, for Dobson, who was one year away from being a free agent, who plays top-pair minutes and shoots right – a major commodity in the NHL – then you can see why he went for the price point he did,” said the NHL source. “But he had all the leverage in the world to command that kind of money because there are only about 7-8 players in the NHL with a similar profile under the age of 30.”
For Hutson, those same leverage points simply don’t exist yet. While his offensive instincts and puck-moving ability have already drawn league-wide attention, he’s at the very start of his NHL career. Hutson has, at the expiry of his current entry-level contract, another five years of RFA status eligibility left before he can gain full autonomy on the free agent market.
That means Montreal’s negotiating position is stronger with Hutson than with Dobson, and the Canadiens will almost certainly continue to use that dynamic in their discussions with Hutson’s camp.
10.2(c) RFA and Impacts on Contract Negotiations
Unlike players in their mid-20s with arbitration rights or the regular RFAs able to receive offer sheets, Hutson falls into the rarer NHL’s 10.2(c) RFA category. This designation applies to restricted free agents who have not yet accrued enough professional seasons to qualify for arbitration or to sign an offer sheet with another team.
In practical terms, a 10.2(c) RFA is locked to their current club until a new deal is signed — there’s no threat of another general manager forcing the issue with an aggressive offer sheet, and no third-party arbitrator awarding a new contract. For the team, it’s the most favorable negotiation position they can have with a young, high-value player.
“Hutson doesn’t really have a large amount of leverage in this situation, outside of his excellent on-ice play, simply because he is not eligible for any offer sheets, and he doesn’t have any arbitration rights either,” said a source close to the situation.
Because of that, his contract comparables don’t come from players like Dobson, but from other young defensemen across the league who were in a similar contractual stage when they signed.
“His contract comparable wouldn’t be Dobson in this case, it would be more like (Jake) Sanderson or (Brock) Faber or (Quinn) Hughes, who signed long-term deals as 10.2(c) RFAs,” said the source. “It’s about comparing apples to apples here, even though I think Hutson could be elite.”
Recent history supports that assessment. When Quinn Hughes signed his six-year, $47.10M contract (AAV of $7.85M), it represented 9.63% of Vancouver’s total cap space at the time. In 2023, Jake Sanderson secured an eight-year, $64.4M deal (AAV $8.05M) with Ottawa after just one full season, representing 9.2% of the team’s cap. Most recently, Brock Faber inked an eight-year, $68M deal (AAV of $8.5M), accounting for 8.9% of Minnesota’s cap space.
With the NHL salary cap projected to rise to around $104M, a comparable 9-9.5% slice of the pie would put Hutson’s AAV at roughly $8.8M-$9.5M on a six-to-eight-year agreement. That’s the ballpark his camp and the Canadiens will be eyeing if both sides decide to go long term — a deal Hutson can sign anytime between now and September 16, 2026.
But the issue is, those comparables may also not be relevant anymore, as the market for contracts is experiencing a bit of a reset due to the rapidly rising salary cap.
RFA Market Reset
Unlike last summer, when the Canadiens moved quickly to sign Juraj Slafkovsky and Kaiden Guhle — both eligible for offer sheets in 2025, coupled with an uncertain salary cap environment — Hutson’s situation carries far less urgency and a little more hesitancy.
This summer has been a peculiar one when it comes to the signing of restricted free agents, especially coming out of the Flat Cap era. With long-term visibility into an aggressive increase in the salary cap (roughly 9.5% per season), RFAs are signing different variations of contracts.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman mentioned on his most recent 32 Thoughts that there is an expected market reset ongoing, as the rapidly rising cap creates an unprecedented situation for players. Never in the history of the NHL’s Salary Cap era has the cap increased so aggressively before, and it’s sent general managers and agents for a loop when it comes to setting a benchmark for normalcy.
“Look at (Matthew) Knies signing for six years instead of max term like we’ve seen of other top RFAs in the past, same for (Wyatt) Johnston at five years,” said an NHL player agent. “Now you have key impending RFAs like (Logan) Cooley, (Connor) Bedard, (Adam) Fantilli and (Leo) Carlsson all eligible to extend and everyone is waiting to see which group blinks first.”
General managers continue to have discussions to try to get their RFAs signed sooner than later. However, there hasn’t been a high-value RFA coming out of their entry-level contract to sign an extension in this new reality yet, with Luke Hughes being the next big name to be owed a contract.
“For someone like Lane Hutson, all eyes are likely on what the New Jersey Devils decide to do with Luke Hughes,” said another source. “Can you really offer him more than his brother, Jack? Does that impact his term then? All these things come into play, but will also impact negotiations across the league, as agents or general managers will use it as a benchmark.”
That resolution on Luke Hughes’ deal should be coming shortly, with less than 60 days before the start of the NHL season. Along with the other RFAs mentioned above, the market for signings could then shake loose and give more clarity on where the contract space is heading for players.
That will give the Canadiens and Hutson’s camp a stronger base to work with.
Cordial Relations Between Both Parties
We’ll get this out of the way right now: sources indicate that both parties are in a very good place and feel confident a deal will eventually get done.
RG Media can confirm that contract discussions are currently ongoing between both parties, but that the sweet spot in terms of AAV and term has not yet been found.
Hutson himself has made it clear he wants to stay in Montreal, praising the city, the passionate fan base, and the direction of the organization’s rebuild. His comfort level with the coaching staff and management group only reinforces the likelihood of a long-term commitment.
Current indications suggest a short-term, bridge deal is highly unlikely. The feeling is that the sweet spot for the club would be a six-to-eight-year contract. This would not only secure Hutson’s prime years but also allow the team to build around a cost-controlled top-pair defenseman as the rest of the roster matures.
On the flip side, player agents want to ensure that, if they do go long-term with their players’ next deal, the agreed AAV is not something that the player will look back on in two or three years and regret. Given how fast the cap is rising, there is potential for shorter five-or-six-year deals as well, allowing the player a second kick at a big payout during their prime years.
It’s a delicate conversation, but it’s not one that either party is shying from.
That being said, the clearest message received from a direct source on the subject was the following:
“You’ll hear a lot of noise about it until it’s signed, but there’s very little to worry about.”
