The Montreal Canadiens have the second-most productive defence corps in the NHL, and they've locked up their members for a long time. Some great work by Kent Hughes.
When Kent Hughes acquired Noah Dobson at the draft last summer, he significantly changed the look of the Montreal Canadiens’ defence corps. It went from desperately needing a right-shot defenseman to having one of the best ones in the league. Unsurprisingly, the offensive defenseman has had a significant impact on the team, helping Mike Matheson regain his offensive touch. Add to that the fact that Lane Hutson is having a fantastic season, producing even more than he did in his record-setting rookie season, and you have a very healthy blue line.
After 50 games, the Canadiens' defence corps is the second most productive in the league with 134 points, trailing only the Colorado Avalanche, which has 151. The Habs’ defensemen have put up 29% of the team’s points, the third-highest percentage behind the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Washington Capitals.
Of the Avalanche’s 151 points produced by the defenseman, Cale Makar has 54, accounting for 36% of the production, while Brent Burns and Sam Malinski both have 24 points, accounting for 16% of the output. Josh Manson is fourth with 21 points for 14%, while Devon Toews has 13 points for just 9%, and Samuel Girard is sixth with 11 points for 7%. Ilya Soloyvnov has three points for 2%, and Jack Achan has just one point for less than 1% of their production.
Meanwhile, Lane Hutson accounts for 52 of the Canadiens’ defensemen’s 134 points, or for 39% of them. Dobson has 31 points, which works out to 23%. Matheson has 23 points for 18% of the production; Alexandre Carrier has 16 points for 12%, Jayden Struble has seven points and accounts for 5%, Kaiden Guhle has three points for 2%, while Arber Xhekaj has two points accounting for 1,5%. In other words, while the Habs' most productive blueliner accounts for more of the production than the Av’s, the other rearguards of the Canadiens’ top-four are more productive than the Avs’.
Montreal’s blueline is on pace for 220 points this season, while it could only muster 172 last season, a 48-point increase. Given that the players are all still young, there’s no reason to believe there won’t be another increase next season, since it’s likely they haven't reached their ceiling yet.
Whichever way you look at it, Kent Hughes has assembled a fantastic blue line, and he has locked it up for years to come. Hutson is under contract until 2034, Dobson until 2033, and Guhle and Matheson until 2031. Carrier has another year on his contract, just like Struble. At the same time, Xhekaj will be an RFA this summer, meaning the GM has some room to manoeuvre if a prospect can unsettle members of the bottom pairing (Carrier would have been on the bottom pairing this season had it not been for Guhle’s injuries).
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