“Lane Hutson’s place is secured”

Before today’s training session, Mathias Brunet penned a paper in which he projected the Habs’ line-up.

In his piece, in which he says that all bets are off for the lineup, he comes to the conclusion that, barring a surprise, there will only be one rookie in uniform for the first game: Lane Hutson.

He had this to say:

Lane Hutson’s place on defense is a foregone conclusion. – Mathias Brunet

Rondelle libre | Formation du Canadien : les jeux sont (presque) faits https://t.co/6mnZDYB3TJ

– La Presse Sports (@LaPresse_Sports) September 27, 2024

Obviously, this isn’t exactly a surprise to anyone, but to hear it from someone as connected to the Habs as Mathias is, it adds another layer to what we already knew.

But what’s interesting is that today’s training tends to confirm his point.

While the Habs divided their players into two groups, we saw the likes of David Reinbacher and Logan Mailloux practicing with the Rocket guys on the second rink, in Brossard.

What about Lane? On the Canadiens’ top-4 with David Savard and on one of the two power-play waves.

Here are the trios in training:

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Dach – Laine
Roy – Dvorak – Anderson
Armia – Evans – Gallagher
Pezzetta

Matheson – Struble
Hutson – Savard
Xhekaj – Barron

Montembeault
Primeau

– Vincent Duquette (@VincentDuquette) September 27, 2024

No doubt Kaiden Guhle will resume his place alongside Mike Matheson when he can. We also suspect that Justin Barron (right-hander) will be battling two lefties (Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble) for the last two spots in the line-up.

That’s of course if nothing changes.

Even if I see Lane Hutson on the second power-play unit to start the year (which seems to be the case, anyway), it’s clear that he’ll have an important role from the start of the season. You can feel it.

Seeing Jayden Struble in the regular line-up makes sense. He had a good role last year and, if he makes the club, he can help stabilize a defensive corps that needs to be more airtight than last year.