Hockey

“Everyone in Montreal, including Lane Hutson, wants to leave money on the table.”
Félix Forget
“Everyone in Montreal, including Lane Hutson, wants to leave money on the table.”
Credit: Getty Images

For the past few years, there has been a well-established salary scale in Montreal. Nick Suzuki, the club's captain, earns $7.875 million a year… and the players who signed their second contracts after him all signed for less money.Right now, Noah Dobson ($9.5 million) and Patrik Laine ($8.7 million) make more money annually than the captain, but their respective situations are different.That said, Lane Hutson is expected to change that. With the salary cap skyrocketing and his excellence at a young age, he's in a good position to ask for (much) more than $7.875 million a year. David Pagnotta discussed Hutson's case with Daily Faceoff… and he mentioned this:

Everyone in Montreal, including Lane Hutson, wants to leave money on the table.

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David Pagnotta

https://youtu.be/lonDsDP_Bx8?si=NRLfeKrhcHzLNb75&t=149

In fact, according to Pagnotta, this culture has been clearly established since Suzuki signed his contract. The tipster notes that the captain left money on the table (even though, in reality, it was a pretty fair contract at the time)… and since then, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovský and Noah Dobson have all agreed to leave money on the table. And in fact, you can also add guys like Kaiden Guhle and Jake Evans to that list.Guys are willing to make sacrifices to make it work in Montreal,” says Pagnotta. But that doesn't necessarily mean that Hutson will sign for less than Suzuki, far from it. What it does mean is that the defender doesn't want to break the bank: he wants a fair contract, without necessarily squeezing every dollar out of the club. And that's why, more and more, the idea of him signing a contract in the neighbourhood of eight years at $9 million a year is circulating.But above all, it suggests that right now, the guys in the locker room are buying into management's plan, and are prepared to think of the good of the team first and foremost.Obviously, it's easy to make connections with Hutson, but you also have to wonder what this means for the players who will reach full autonomy next summer. Mike Matheson and Patrik Laine, for example, are interesting cases in point: will they be willing to leave money on the table (on what could be their last big contract) to stay in a market they love?That's something to keep an eye on… and obviously, starting next summer, Ivan Demidov will be the next one whose contract situation will be the talk of the town.

'Overtime'

– Michael Hage at center on the second line tonight for his first game of the season.

LJ Mooney will be on his team's first line.

– Oh yeah?

– Jack Roslovic turned down a multi-year contract in Edmonton this summer.

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– This will be the most-watched series in the country, of course.

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