It became official after the Montreal Canadiens extended Lane Hutson on an eight-year, $70.8 million contract. They were well on their way to building the most financially-savvy young lineup in hockey, and it's a blueprint the rest of the NHL should cringe at.
Or, at least those teams that are cash-strapped or trying to buy their way into relevance with free agent and trade acquisitions. With Hutson on board for another eight seasons, he's now the sixth player on the team inked to a long-term deal that carries a cap hit under $10 million alongside Noah Dobson, Kaiden Guhle, Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield, and Nick Suzuki.
And it gives the Habs flexibility in the coming seasons to ink potential core players like Patrik Laine, Alex Newhook, Ivan Demidov, Zack Bolduc, and potentially Jakub Dobes. That's one heck of a core, and one that's young enough to carry this team for the next decade.
Canadiens are pulling ahead of other rebuilding NHL teams
In their own division, the Canadiens look like the front-runners among other long-term rebuilders like the Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings. The Sabres are still a mess, while the Wings are still looking to end their near-decade playoff drought.
In the Western Conference, the Anaheim Ducks look like they're on pace to snatch a playoff berth in the near future, but that might not come until 2027. Meanwhile, the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks look like they're another two seasons away from reaching the same level Montreal currently finds itself on.
That's awesome news if you're a Habs fan, even if it means they still need to fight for a seat at the table alongside their top rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Florida teams - the Panthers and the Lightning. Still, Toronto, Florida, and Tampa will start aging out, and when they do, this young core of Canadiens players will be in their respective primes, and a lot of them will be spending most of their careers in Quebec.
Montreal has been playing the most financially savvy game in the NHL
Contrast what the Habs have been doing with the Toronto Maple Leafs' approach. Until 2025-26, they had four players wrapped up in eight-figure cap hits, and they kept wondering why they fell short every season in the playoffs.
Add Morgan Rielly to that group, and over half the Leafs' salary cap space went to five players, making it hard to attract talent or develop them internally.
The Canadiens and general manager Kent Hughes are avoiding that pitfall, and we shouldn't see an iota of change when he extends a few more players either before the 2025-26 season is up, or by the fall of 2026. It's a good time to be a Habs fan.