The #CH practices at 11:30 this morning and we’ll have the first images of Lane Hutson with his teammates on the ice, who SHOULD play his first NHL game tonight.
Stay tuned! #Habs #Canadiens
– Marc-Olivier Beaudoin (@MOBeaudoin1) April 15, 2024
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.
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.
With 100 days to go until the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which will take place from July 26 to August 11, today we present the details of our programming for this summer’s event: https: //t.co/GZdfEk1dfM pic.twitter.com/eznXWy611m
– Radio-Canada (@iciradiocanada) April 15, 2024
– Yes.
Las Vegas, the new sports Mecca… @StephaneMorneau and @DaphneeMalboeuf talk about it! https://t.co/Rqdbc3xk3p
– RDS (@RDSca) April 15, 2024
– The Jets deserve more attention. [BPM Sports]
– To be continued.
LPHF | Final stretch of the season begins Thursday https://t.co/4JSrIMCIip
– La Presse Sports (@LaPresse_Sports) April 15, 2024