The NHL is a big business, and when a player signs a new contract, every detail and every clause makes the headlines. In the last couple of days, the Minnesota Wild have signed Kirill Kaprizov to a record-setting contract that will see him earn $17 million for eight years, and the New Jersey Devils finally reached a deal with RFA defenseman Luke Hughes.

While the Kaprizov deal won’t have a significant impact on the Montreal Canadiens, the Hughes one may help them progress in the Lane Hutson negotiations. Like Hutson, Hughes is a young blueliner who has had a significant impact on his team’s fortune. Like Hutson, he signed out of college and burned the first year on his ELC, playing a couple of games at the tail end of a season before enjoying a remarkable rookie year.

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In his first complete season in the NHL, he put up 47 points in 82 games and managed to finish third in Calder Trophy voting (686 votes) behind winner Connor Bedard (1808 votes) and runner-up Brock Faber (1464 votes).

In his second season, Hughes scored 47 points, a slight decrease, but he achieved this in 71 games, resulting in 0.66 points per game, up from 0.57 PPG in his rookie year. With the start of the regular season approaching, the Devils had to reach a deal with the blueliner if they didn’t want him to sit out, and they finally agreed to a seven-year pact with a $9 M AAV. When the deal expires at the end of the 2031-32 season, he will be a 28-year-old UFA.

Last summer, Faber signed an eight-year pact with the Wild that had an $8.5 M AAV. In his rookie year, he had put up 47 points in 82 games, exactly like Hughes and Minnesota decided not to wait for his ELC contract to run out before signing him, and he’s locked in until the end of the 2032-33 season, when he will be a 30-year-old UFA.

Hutson had a much more productive season than both above-mentioned blueliners with 66 points in 82 games, becoming the first Canadiens player to win the Calder trophy since Ken Dryden back in the 1971-1972 season. Whichever way you look at it, Hutson should have a higher cap hit than Faber and Hughes, not only because of his points total, but also because of the significance of his role with the Canadiens.

When Kent Hughes agreed to sign Noah Dobson to a long-term contract with a $9.5 million AAV, he knew full well that Hutson was watching. Judging by what we’ve seen so far in the preseason, the youngster has every right to expect to become the highest-paid player on the team, and he doesn’t look set for a case of the sophomore jinx.

If Hughes can manage to sign his prized jewel of a defenseman for a cap hit below $10 M, he will be able to tell himself he did a good job. So far, he’s been able to keep his cap hits relatively low by selling his players on the importance of taking less money to have a better team. He’s surely hoping to do the same with Hutson.

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