Canadiens Notes: Hutson, Laine, Free Agents, Dach
Lane Hutson put up historic numbers in his rookie season, and the Canadiens will look to capitalize on that by discussing a long-term extension as he enters the final season of his entry-level contract, general manager Kent Hughes said today (writes Marco D’Amico of RG). He’s not eligible to put pen to paper on a deal until July 1, but doing so immediately would prevent Hutson from a potentially testy ride through restricted free agency in 2026 and allow the Habs to achieve long-term cost certainty before he potentially increases his value in his sophomore campaign.
Hutson’s likely Calder-winning campaign needs no introduction. The 5’9″ defenseman exploded for 66 points in all 82 regular-season games, tying Lightning star Victor Hedman for sixth in the league in scoring among rearguards and leading all rookies in scoring. Not only does that make him the highest-scoring rookie defenseman in Montreal’s 107-year NHL history, but his 60 assists also tied Larry Murphy for most by a first-year blue liner.
Regardless of when they reach an extension, it’s a foregone conclusion they won’t be able to keep him under the internal salary hierarchy they stuck to when negotiating star winger Cole Caufield‘s eight-year extension two summers ago. They’ve yet to sign a deal eclipsing captain Nick Suzuki‘s $7.875MM cap hit since he signed that deal in 2021. Patrik Laine is technically the team’s highest-paid player at an $8.7MM cap hit, but they acquired that contract via trade. After seeing youngsters like Flames winger Matthew Coronato land a long-term deal at $6.5MM annually, Hughes will almost certainly have to go into the $8-9MM range on a new deal for Hutson.
There’s more on the Canadiens:
- While it wasn’t a glowing end to the season for Laine, Hughes credits his impact earlier in the year as instrumental in Montreal’s postseason berth (per D’Amico). The 27-year-old managed 20 goals and 33 points in 52 games after a quicker-than-expected return from a preseason knee injury, but 75% of his goals and 63% of his points came on the power play. His 5-on-5 possession numbers were among the worst on the club with a 43.0 CF% and led to diminished usage in Games 1 and 2 of their first-round series against the Capitals before a broken finger sidelined him for the final three games of their season.
- Hughes hasn’t made a decision either way on whether to pursue contract extensions with the team’s slate of pending unrestricted free agents, notes D’Amico. Luckily for him, he doesn’t have many of those decisions to make. One has already been made for him on defenseman David Savard, who announced his retirement. The comprehensive list of others includes NHL-rostered forwards Joel Armia, Christian Dvorak, and Michael Pezzetta; minor-league centers Alex Barré-Boulet and Brandon Gignac; and depth netminder Connor Hughes.
- The Canadiens “haven’t given up” on 24-year-old center Kirby Dach after a second major procedure on his right knee in as many years, D’Amico writes. Nonetheless, he relays executive vice president Jeff Gorton “didn’t look overly confident” when discussing Dach and notes he’ll need an eye-opening training camp to regain a top-six role. After playing just twice in the 2023-24 campaign, Dach’s performance wasn’t pretty in 2024-25 before the knee injury ended his campaign in February. He scored 22 points with a team-worst -29 rating in 57 games.
Canadiens Assign Oliver Kapanen And Cayden Primeau To AHL
Following their elimination at the hands of the Capitals, the Canadiens have sent a pair of players to the minors to keep their seasons going. The team announced (Twitter link) that they have assigned center Oliver Kapanen and goaltender Cayden Primeau to AHL Laval.
This will actually be Kapanen’s first taste of AHL action. He started the season with Montreal before being loaned to SHL Timra for more playing time. After putting up 35 points in 36 games with them, he was recalled to the NHL in April. All told, the 21-year-old played in 18 regular season contests with the Canadiens, collecting two assists in a little under 11 minutes of playing time. Kapanen also picked up a helper in three playoff appearances where he logged just under seven minutes a night of action.
As for Primeau, his stint with Montreal was short-lived after being recalled last weekend following the injury to Sam Montembeault. He struggled mightily in limited action with the Canadiens this season, posting a 4.70 GAA and a .836 SV% in 11 appearances. However, he was dominant with Laval, winning 21 of 25 games while putting up a 2.00 GAA and a .926 SV%. A pending restricted free agent owed a $1.068MM qualifying offer next month, Primeau and prospect Jacob Fowler will serve as the Rocket’s netminders for their postseason run.
Notably, netminder Jakub Dobes was not sent down. Montreal used one of their four post-deadline recalls as a paper transaction to keep the 23-year-old eligible to play with the Rocket down the stretch. However, it appears that won’t be the case now. Dobes could be a candidate to play for Czechia at the Worlds or perhaps the team decided that since he has been a full-time NHL goalie since late December, it wouldn’t be right to send him down now.
Canadiens Notes: Anderson, Laine, Montembeault, Worlds, Savard
As expected, several injuries for the Montreal Canadiens were revealed in today’s end-of-season presser. Forwards Josh Anderson and Patrik Laine, along with netminder Sam Montembeault, shared insights into their struggles with injuries during Montreal’s playoff run.
Vaguely, Anderson told Eric Engels of Sportsnet that he was dealing with lower- and upper-body injuries throughout the regular season, and that he likely wouldn’t have played if the Canadiens weren’t in a position to qualify for the postseason. Still, Anderson impressively tallied 15 goals on the year and played in the highest number of games since the 2018-19 season.
Meanwhile, Laine shared with Marco D’Amico of RG the specifics of the hand injury that kept him out of Games 3, 4, and 5. D’Amico quoted Laine saying, “I broke my finger in the second game. I couldn’t really hold my stick, and shooting is what I do. I was disappointed.”
Lastly, Engels reported that the Canadiens were without their starting netminder for the series’ last two games because of a torn groin. Thankfully, Montembeault won’t require surgery, meaning a full off-season with rehab should have him ready to start the 2025-26 season on time for Montreal.
Other Canadiens notes:
- Now that their playoff run has concluded, the Canadiens will have at least one player participating in the 2025 IIHF World Championships and could have a few more. Montreal announced that defenseman Mike Matheson will suit up for Team Canada, while Engels reported Cole Caufield (Tweet Link) and Lane Hutson (Tweet Link) are undecided on playing for Team USA. Unfortunately, Team Slovakia will be without one of their top young players as Engels shared Juraj Slafkovsky won’t play in this summer’s international competition.
- Now retired following the Canadiens’ elimination at the hands of the Capitals, David Savard would like to continue his work career with the Canadiens in a different capacity (Tweet Link). He didn’t allude to which path, as in coaching or a front office position, but he did say he would like to work with the team’s defensemen in some fashion.
Scott Arniel, Spencer Carbery, Martin St. Louis Named Jack Adams Finalists
The Jets’ Scott Arniel, the Capitals’ Spencer Carbery, and the Canadiens’ Martin St. Louis are this year’s Jack Adams Award finalists as the NHL’s top head coach, the league announced.
All are first-time finalists. Unlike most other awards (like the Selke, whose finalists were announced today), the Adams is voted on by broadcast media members, not print/digital.
In his first season behind the Winnipeg bench after taking over for the retiring Rick Bowness, Arniel guided the Jets to their first Presidents’ Trophy and best regular season in franchise history. Promoted after serving as an assistant under Bowness since 2022-23, the former Jets 1.0 forward logged a 56-22-4 record.
This is Arniel’s second stop as an NHL head coach. He was previously at the helm of the Blue Jackets for a year and a half, posting a 45-60-18 (.439) record in 123 games before being fired at the halfway point of the 2011-12 season. He would be the first bench boss in Jets 2.0 franchise history to win Coach of the Year honors.
Over in Washington, Carbery oversaw one of the league’s biggest point increases from 2023-24 to 2024-25 in his second year behind the Capitals’ bench. He’s now posted a 91-53-20 (.616) record across his two seasons in the role, including an Eastern Conference-leading 51-22-9 record this year for Washington’s first division title in five years. While it’s not considered for this award’s purposes, he also just guided the Caps to their first playoff series win since 2018 with a five-game dispatching of the Canadiens in the first round.
Carbery helped improve Washington’s offense from a 28th-ranked 2.63 goals per game last year to 3.49 in 2024-25, second-best in the NHL. If he wins, the 43-year-old would be the first to take home Coach of the Year honors at every stop of the NHL’s professional development pyramid. While in lower levels of the Caps organization, he won COTY honors with ECHL South Carolina in 2013-14 and with AHL Hershey in 2020-21.
As for St. Louis, the Hall-of-Fame winger could add coaching-related honors to a trophy case that includes a Stanley Cup, two Art Ross Trophies, MVP honors, and three Lady Byng Trophies. Coming off his third full season behind the Montreal bench, the 49-year-old helped guide a young Habs squad out of the dark stages of their rebuild. The team recorded their first 40-win season in six years and ended a three-year postseason drought that was tied for the longest (1999-2001, 1920-1922) in franchise history. A Habs bench boss hasn’t been named COTY since Pat Burns in 1989.
Phil Roberto Passes Away
In a sad announcement, the St. Louis Blues revealed that former player Phil Roberto has passed away at the age of 76.
Roberto began his professional playing career with the Montreal Canadiens on December 17, 1969. Despite tallying only one assist in eight games during the 1969-70 season, Roberto increased his offense the following season, scoring 14 goals and 21 points in 39 games. He added another assist in 15 postseason contests as the Canadiens captured the Stanley Cup against the Chicago Black Hawks.
Without much information on the type of transaction, Roberto was moved from Montreal to the Blues organization partway through the 1971-72 season. St. Louis is where he’d have the most individual success of his career, scoring 33 goals and 71 points in 148 games in parts of four seasons.
The Niagara Falls, Ontario native joined the Detroit Red Wings partway through the 1974-75 season, and scored 14 goals and 48 points in 83 games with the second Original Six organization of his career. Roberto left the Red Wings in the 1975-76 season and began playing for three different teams that were briefly part of the NHL.
From halfway through the 1975-76 season to 1977, Roberto played for the Kansas City Scouts, Colorado Rockies, and Cleveland Barons. He joined the WHA’s Birmingham Bulls in 1977-78, ending his NHL career with 75 goals and 106 assists in 385 regular-season games.
PHR sends our condolences to Roberto’s family, friends, colleagues, and former teammates.
Department Of Player Safety Fines Arber Xhekaj
- Due to some extracurricular activity before Game 4 between the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals, the league’s Department of Player Safety decided to bestow some punishments. The Department of Player Safety announced they’ve fined Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj $3,385.42, the maximum allowable under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, for unsportsmanlike conduct during warm-ups of yesterday’s contest. The league didn’t allude to any specific actions from Xhekaj, but he was seen exchanging words with a few Capitals players from his side of the red line.
[SOURCE LINK]
Canadiens Recall Cayden Primeau
The Montreal Canadiens have recalled goaltender Cayden Primeau in the wake of an injury to starter Sam Montembeault. Montembeault left Game 3 during a second-period TV-timeout, after a conversation with Montreal’s director of sports medicine and performance, Jim Ramsay. He has been listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, did not practice on Sunday, and will formally be questionable for Game 4 – head coach Martin St. Louis shared with NHL.com. Montreal will start rookie Jakub Dobes in their next matchup, and now have Primeau as a potential backup option.
Primeau has had a near-perfect season in the minor leagues. He’s posted a dazzling 21-2-2 record, .927 save percentage, and 1.96 goals-against average. In turn, Primeau recorded the fewest losses, the third-highest save percentage, and the highest goals-against average of all qualified AHL goalies. It was a true breakout performance after Primeau posted a .909 save percentage, and varying surrounding stats, in each of the last four AHL seasons.
Primeau was the de facto starter any time he was in the AHL, though he fell three games shy of the Laval Rocket’s lead in games played after spending two months on the NHL roster to start the season. He stepped into 11 games over that tenure and managed a far less encouraging 2-3-1 record, .836 save percentage, and 4.70 goals-against-average. It continued what’s been a string of underwhelming NHL performances for Primeau, who sits with a 13-24-7 record and .884 save percentage through 55 career games. Those numbers were boosted slightly by a .910 save percentage in 23 games last year – numbers that Montreal will hope he can recreate after a flawless season in the minor leagues.
Samuel Montembeault Status Uncertain For Game Four
Montreal Canadiens starting goalie Samuel Montembeault is being evaluated after leaving Friday’s game three victory over the Capitals, per NHL.com reporter Dan Rosen.
Josh Anderson, Tom Wilson Fined For Unsportsmanlike Conduct
For their part in a game three incident, Montreal Canadiens forward Josh Anderson and Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson were both fined $5,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct, per an NHL release.
The fine is the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. As players prepared to enter their respective locker rooms at the end of the second period, Wilson and Anderson engaged in a wrestling match that ended up spilling into Washington’s bench. Both players received roughing minors and 10-minute misconducts. Multiple players joined the fracas, and Washington’s Lars Eller and Montreal’s Arber Xhekaj were also assessed minor penalties. For his part, Wilson also took the opportunity to mock Montreal players directly following the incident.
Capitals coach Spencer Carbery told reporters following the game that the situation was, “Just two competitive teams, two competitive guys going at it.” He added that when the second period concluded, he was making his way to the locker room when he needed to reverse course to avoid Anderson and Wilson coming into Washington’s bench.
These types of situations are not uncommon for Wilson, who has been suspended five time in his career in additional to several fines he’s accumulated over the years. Playing on the edge is also what has made Wilson a successful power forward for the Caps. His 2,368 career hits only trail teammate Alex Ovechkin in Washington history, while his 835 career games rank eighth in team history.
Anderson has also played a physical brand of hockey over his career, though this represents the first fine of his career (he did receive a two-game suspension for boarding in 2022). With the Canadians pulling away to a 6-3 win in game three, and drawing closer in the series, it will be interesting to see if there is a follow-up between the two physical forwards as the series progresses.
Canadiens’ Patrik Laine To Miss Game 3
The Montreal Canadiens have announced that winger Patrik Laine will be a last-minute scratch for Friday’s Game 3 due to an upper-body injury. Laine appeared to sustain the injury at some point during Game 2. He played in just 10 minutes of the losing effort, over four minutes fewer than he averaged during the regular season.
Laine was noticeably quiet during Game 2. He failed to generate much action after being on the ice for plenty of action in Game 1. Laine generated a team-high five shots on net, and recorded one assist and a minus-two, in the first game of Montreal’s postseason. The score was Laine’s first postseason point since 2019. His years in between took the Finn through campaigns with the snake-bitten Columbus Blue Jackets – but he found stronger standing with the Canadiens this year. Even despite missing 30 games to injury, Laine still managed 20 goals and 33 points in 52 games with Montreal this season.
With Laine out of the lineup, Montreal will turn towards rookie Oliver Kapanen to step into a bottom-six role. Kapanen played in the first 18 games of his NHL career earlier this season. He recorded two assists and a minus-five. The quiet start prompted the Canadiens to loan Kapanen to the SHL’s Timra IK. He made the most of the role with 35 points in 36 games – the second-highest scoring pace on Timra. Kapanen also scored three points in six SHL playoff games. He’ll now fight to carry that footing over to the NHL as Montreal looks to record their first win of the series.