Lane Hutson is paid more than six Canadiens defensemen

If we look at the Habs’ current payroll , we can see that there are a lot of defensemen… whether they’re playing or not. For the sake of argument, let’s count them all.

Seven of them (Mike Matheson, David Savard, Jordan Harris, Lane Hutson, Justin Barron, Jayden Struble and Johnathan Kovacevic) are healthy, and two of them (Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj) are in bad shape.

But then there’s Chris Wideman (injury list) and Jeff Petry, who represents dead money.

What’s fascinating is that of the 11 defensemen above, six are paid less than Lane Hutson, who just signed in the last few days.

Which six? Justin Barron, Jayden Struble, Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Johnathan Kovacevic and Chris Wideman. Yes, I’m counting Wideman ($762,500 payroll and $775,000 actual salary this season) as a Habs defenseman… because that’s what he is, according to his contract.

Whether you take Lane Hutson’s payroll amount ($950,000), his average annual salary including potential bonuses ($1,333,333), his total salary for the year ($950,000) or his base salary ($855,000), he’s still behind Matheson, Savard and Harris, who’s on his second pro contract.

He’s also behind Petry, but Petry isn’t a Habs defenseman: he’s a Red Wings defenseman who’s paid in part (37.5% of his contract) by Geoff Molson.

Obviously, Hutson isn’t drastically above the others (especially in Barron’s case), but still: for tonight’s game, he’ll likely be the fourth-highest-paid defenseman.

And even third if Harris jumps, which I don’t think he will.

We knew the defense was young, but let’s just say that to come to such a conclusion about the salaries of players on the blue line is enough to strike the imagination. After all, Hutson has yet to play a single game in the NHL.

Clearly, there isn’t as much dead wood defensively as offensively, let’s face it.

In Brief

– To watch at 11:30.

– 100 days only.

– Yes.

– The Jets deserve more attention. [BPM Sports]

– To be continued.