Lane Hutson: $1 million more a year in his pocket than Luke Hughes

The Canadiens signed Lane Hutson for $70.8 million U.S. over eight years (2026 to 2034), which means the youngster is theoretically going nowhere in the medium or even long term. And that makes everyone in Montreal happy. In the short term, he couldn't leave. And even worse: he wouldn't even have been eligible for arbitration or an offer sheet in 2026, if he didn't have a contract by then. He didn't have a lot of negotiating leverage (so he couldn't be compared to Noah Dobson, for example)… apart from his talent. And in fact, his talent is so obvious that he signed a historic deal for a player in his position while leaving money on the table in the process.

He's that good, the youngster.But despite all that, you have to keep in mind that the negotiations were tough and his agents still pushed for more money – whether he spends it in his lifetime or not.

Alexandre Carrier on Hutson:

“He's so simple and humble that we were laughing in the room earlier telling him that we all knew he wasn't going to spend a single penny of that contract.” – Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) October 13, 2025

In concrete terms, the defenseman's representatives took advantage of the fact that Hutson is American to use Canada's retirement compensation arrangement for foreigners.

Renaud Lavoie had this to say on the radio (BPM Sports) this morning: if he'd been a Canadiens instead of an American, Hutson might have earned more money to put in his pocket.

The journalist talked about this in Le Club du Matin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCMI3uz-KBY

In reality, NHL players look at how much money they can put in their pockets, and not necessarily the cap hit of the contract alone. That's where taxes and things like the Retirement Compensation Arrangement come into play. And that's where Hutson comes out on top.

Lane Hutson, at least next season at his average salary, will have a million dollars more in his pocket than Luke Hughes. Why? Because Luke Hughes is an American who plays in a highly-taxed American state.

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Renaud Lavoie

Because of the retirement agreement that will allow him to save on taxes when he retires, Hutson will maximize his contract en masse. Renaud Lavoie is talking about a contract, before taxes, that will bring him the equivalent of $80 million U.S. Hutson had no leverage in the negotiations and he gets away with it.Jeff Gorton knew what he was talking about when he said that the Habs knew how to get around the tax, so…

'prolongation'

It's a win-win for the Canadiens and a win-win for the defenseman.All's well that ends well, then? They lived happily ever after and won numerous Stanley Cups?

Kent Hughes refused to say yesterday whether this was a discount or not for his player, given the changing market. The increase in the cap changes the benchmarks we had for salaries,but in reality, everyone has put water in their wine to come to an agreement. I don't see one group, in the Hutson contract situation, drinking water and the other drinking wine. #FindingTheRightMiddle