On Thanksgiving morning, the Montreal Canadiens decided to give their fans yet something else to be thankful for when they announced that they had signed a maximum-term extension with blueliner Lane Hutson for a team-friendly salary. This signing was more than a simple contract, though; it was a building block for the culture the Canadiens are trying to build.
When Marc Bergevin signed captain Nick Suzuki to an incredible value-for-money deal, the former GM put down the first building block to what the Canadiens are trying to build: a perennial contender. After he was dismissed, Kent Hughes came in and immediately saw that he had something to build on. With his experience as a player agent, he knew that the best way to win was to get his players to accept being paid what they were worth, but not go for the absolute maximum they could squeeze out of the team.
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Thankfully for Hughes, he was able to get the players who were part of the first wave of his rebuild to buy in. Instead of betting on themselves and playing out the end of their ELC, the players decided to bet on the team, showing that they believed the organization could be restored to its former glory with the appropriate financial means. Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Kaiden Guhle all bought in.
Last season, as center Jake Evans’ contract was about to expire, Hughes negotiated with him and stood his ground. In the end, Evans also accepted being paid less than he would have been on the open market because he believed in what was being built in Montreal. He knew he could thrive in his current surroundings.
By signing Hutson to an 8-year and $70.8M contract, Hughes put down another building block, one that represents the fact that the second wave of players from his rebuild have accepted to follow Suzuki and co.’s lead. When Hughes has to extend Ivan Demidov, Zack Bolduc, Arber Xhekaj, and Kirby Dach, they too will be expected to buy in.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Suzuki said he didn’t want to get up in other guys’ business, so he didn’t discuss Hutson’s extension with the blueliner. Still, he did tell him at the end of last season that if he wanted to discuss things like that, he was available.
In the end, this lengthy negotiation came to an end for one main reason: Hutson is of the same ilk as Patrice Bergeron, Martin Brodeur, and Connor McDavid. He wants to win, and he knows the team will have better odds to do that if he signs a reasonable contract rather than try to squeeze the lemon for all it's got, Kirill Kaprizov style. When Hutson himself got involved in the negotiations and spoke directly to his GM, rather than through his agent, a deal was swiftly reached. Both parties realized they wanted the same thing: to keep Hutson in Montreal long-term and have a real opportunity to win. Who know how the Toronto Maple Leafs would have fared if their core had been receptive to leaving some money on the table…the supporting cast might have been much better.
Even Martin St-Louis got in the culture-building action by the way he announced to his players that Hutson had signed. At the end of practice, he told the sophomore blueliner to do a hot lap, which prompted his teammates to wonder why and what he had done wrong, according to Alexandre Carrier. Then, the bench boss informed them that Hutson had signed an 8-year contract, and the reaction was automatic; the group burst out in a huge cheer and rushed to hug Hutson.
When Demidov and Bolduc negotiate their next contract, they’ll remember that moment with their teammates. On that day, Hutson was the hero because he was ready to commit to the team, while allowing it to have the cap flexibility necessary to build a winner. They’ll want to have that feeling too.
Before then, though, Geoff Molson should make sure to lock up the architects of that culture. Keeping Jeff Gorton and Hughes has to be the owner's priority number one now. They’re building something special, and they should have the opportunity to see that building site to the end.
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