Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson was sixth on NHL Network's top 20 defensemen right now rankings and there was good reason for that. Here's what you should expect from him in his third season.
At just 22 years old, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson is about to embark on his third season in the NHL, and he’s already proven a lot of naysayers wrong. Before he was drafted, he was deemed too small to be an effective defenseman in the NHL, but as soon as he made the jump to the big league, he had an impact. He managed to put up 66 points, breaking the franchise record for the most points by a rookie defenseman, tying Larry Murphy for the most assists by a rookie defenseman in league history and capturing the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie- a first for a Habs player since the late great Ken Dryden did it in 1971-72.
Before he started his second season, some naysayers piped up again, arguing that opponents would have had time to adjust to Hutson now and would be able to counter him. After a slow start, likely caused by his contract negotiations taking their toll, the youngster put pen to paper on a team-friendly eight-year pact with an $8.85 million AAV and took off from that moment, putting up 78 points and doubling his goal total that year, going from six as a rookie to 12 as a sophomore.
What does he have in store for his third year? Likely even better numbers. In the Canadiens' long playoff run, some of their top offensive performers struggled to impact the scoresheet, but not Hutson. In 19 playoff games, he put up 16 points, co-leading the Habs with captain Nick Suzuki. When the play level rose by another couple of notches, so did Hutson. That experience will have made him even better.
The left-shot defenseman is well on his way to proving that he ages like fine wine, and it’s hard to see any reasons why he should take a step back. Getting some stability in his pairing wouldn’t go amiss, however. Last season, he had four partners: Kaiden Ghule (17 games), Jayden Struble (36 games), Alexandre Carrier (18 games) and Noah Dobson (11 games). While Hutson has proven he can play on his off side, finding him a stable right-shot partner would be a great move and could help him take his game to the next level. What he’s been able to accomplish so far while playing with partners who, with all due respect, shouldn’t be playing higher than the third pairing has been nothing short of amazing. So far this offseason, that’s not something Kent Hughes has been able to do.
If the GM can’t manage it before the start of the season, David Reinbacher will likely be getting an extended look at training camp, but even if he’s deemed ready to start the season in the NHL, it’s likely the Canadiens will start him slow with a third-pairing role. If he can manage to be a fixture there, perhaps Hutson will at least have a consistent pairing.
Whoever he plays with, though, it appears highly likely that the blueliner will break the 80-point barrier this season and keep improving on both sides of the puck. From a minus-two rating in his rookie season, Hutson rose to a plus-36 last year as he acclimated to the NHL game and became more efficient defensively; that trend should continue this season. The same should also be true for his shooting percentage. From a meagre 6.6% in his rookie year, he went up to 9.7% as a sophomore, mainly because he became more confident with the puck and took more shots (124 shots in 2025-26 compared to 91 in the 2024-25 season). He averaged 1.51 shots on goal in his second regular season and 1.58 shots on goal in the playoffs. That confidence has kept on growing, and that’s far from over.
In short, expect Hutson to play an even bigger role for the Canadiens this season and his time on ice average to go up from the 23:46 he skated for in 2025-26. By the time the 2026-27 season is over, Hutson will have won over even more naysayers and likely will have improved his sixth-place finish in the Norris Trophy voting.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.
Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News.
