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Lane Hutson

Canadiens Sign Lane Hutson To Eight-Year Extension

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The Montreal Canadiens have gotten their young defensive star locked up for the foreseeable future. According to a team announcement, the Canadiens have signed Lane Hutson to an eight-year, $70.8MM ($8.85MM AAV) contract extension.

Shortly after the announcement, PuckPedia broke down the structure of Hutson’s new extension:

  • Year 1: $1MM salary, $11MM signing bonus
  • Year 2: $1MM salary, $11MM signing bonus
  • Year 3: $1MM salary, $9.5MM signing bonus
  • Year 4: $1MM salary, $6.5MM signing bonus
  • Year 5: $1.2MM salary, $6MM signing bonus
  • Year 6: $1.2MM salary, $6MM signing bonus, 10 team no-trade clause
  • Year 7: $2.2MM salary, $5MM signing bonus, 10-team no-trade clause
  • Year 8: $7.2MM salary, 10-team no-trade clause

The news is somewhat of a surprise, given last week’s update from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Friedman noted that while both parties were close on terms and salary, there was a disagreement regarding “philosophy” concerning a Retirement Compensation Agreement (RCA). This agreement was the Canadiens’ attempt to maximize Hutson’s after-tax earnings while keeping his salary below $10MM.

In our update regarding Hutson, PHR’s Josh Erickson broke down an RCA, writing, “An RCA agreement allows a player to defer up to 49% of their salary – delaying earnings but retaining more of them. The deferred money isn’t taxed at its usual rate, which can exceed 50% in Canada for top NHL earners. Whatever is deferred is split in half, with one half going to a refundable deposit with Canada’s tax agency and the other half going into the trust. After an American player (i.e., Hutson) retires and returns to the United States, they receive the deposit back with no tax deducted. In contrast, withdrawals from the trust are taxed at American federal and state rates, which are often lower than the rates the player would pay in Canada.”

In their announcement, the Canadiens didn’t allude to the inclusion of an RCA in the new extension, and we’ll likely never know. Still, today’s agreement indicates that it wasn’t as much of a hangup as previously believed.

Objectively, Hutson’s most obvious comparable would be New Jersey Devils’ defenseman Luke Hughes, who signed a seven-year, $63MM deal shortly before the start of the 2025-26 season. Impressively, the Canadiens were able to keep Hutson’s salary lower than Hughes’ (albeit minimally), while gaining another year of him on the roster.

Still, this contract is more of a gamble than Hughes’ is. Despite winning the Calder Memorial Trophy last season as the league’s top rookie, Hutson only has 92 games of NHL experience (including playoffs) compared to Hughes’ 161.

Regardless, Hutson made the most of his only full season in the league. He tied Larry Murphy’s all-time assist record for rookie defensemen (60), and tied Phil Housley with 66 points, the fourth-most in NHL history for a freshman blueliner. Further, Hutson finished 9th in voting for the James Norris Memorial Trophy, joining Rasmus Dahlin, Thomas Harley, and Jake Sanderson as the only under-25 defenseman to finish top-10 in voting.

Unfortunately, although his offensive prowess is palpable, Hutson brings a lot of question marks on the defensive side of the puck. He finished last year with an 88.7% on-ice save percentage at even strength, despite starting 66.7% of his shifts in the offensive zone.

Meanwhile, although he spent much of the year next to Jayden Struble, his primary defensive partner was Kaiden Guhle before he suffered a longer-term injury. According to MoneyPuck, when paired with Guhle, who is his defensive partner this season, the two combined for a 48.1% xGoals%, which was middle-of-the-pack production on a playoff-caliber Canadiens lineup.

Another cause for concern would be Hutson’s size. While height and weight have become less important for forwards, they remain significant qualities for most teams’ defensive cores in the league. Hutson stands at 5’9″, 162 lbs, which may make him more susceptible to injuries, especially if Montreal lines up against a heavy-hitting team such as the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Regardless, Montreal now has three of its top-four defensemen signed to long-term contracts. Even after Hutson’s contract takes effect, the Canadiens will have approximately $28MM in cap space, leaving them plenty of room to sign Mike Matheson and keep their defensive core intact for the foreseeable future.

Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.

Latest On Lane Hutson

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While there isn’t a significant gap between the Canadiens and pending RFA defenseman Lane Hutson in extension talks, the two sides are expected to pause dialogue for a while after what Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet described as an “emotional” recent round of negotiations on Monday’s 32 Thoughts podcast.

The base-level framework of a deal isn’t a point of contention. Both sides are amenable to a max-term, eight-year deal. They aren’t far off on the cap hit, either – both are within the range of $9MM per season, although Friedman believes both player and team have a little more to give to get to that point.

The hangup is instead on the “philosophy” of how Montreal is trying to get Hutson the most after-tax dollars while keeping his cap hit below eight digits, Friedman reports. Late last week, Marco D’Amico of RG took a deep dive into what mechanisms the Habs have to limit his cap impact, aside from his relative lack of leverage as a pending 10.2(c) RFA who can’t sign an offer sheet and isn’t arbitration-eligible. In there, he mentions a Canada-specific tool to lower the amount of cash Hutson loses to taxes – a Retirement Compensation Agreement (RCA) trust. However, it appears Hutson’s camp isn’t sold entirely on those benefits being as major as Montreal is trying to sell in talks.

An RCA agreement allows a player to defer up to 49% of their salary – delaying earnings but retaining more of them. The deferred money isn’t taxed at its usual rate, which can exceed 50% in Canada for top NHL earners. Whatever is deferred is split in half, with one half going to a refundable deposit with Canada’s tax agency and the other half going into the trust. After an American player (i.e., Hutson) retires and returns to the United States, they receive the deposit back with no tax deducted. In contrast, withdrawals from the trust are taxed at American federal and state rates, which are often lower than the rates the player would pay in Canada.

In any event, it’s likely the Habs are on track to operate without an eight-figure AAV on their books for the foreseeable future, barring a UFA splash. The only deal they ever signed in franchise history with a cap hit north of $10MM was Carey Price’s eight-year, $84MM extension in 2017. They just traded the final year of that contract to the Sharks to remove themselves from LTIR and to provide San Jose with added cap clearance over the floor. Price hasn’t played in over three years and will not play again due to a knee injury.

A $9MM cap hit is directly in line with what Ducks defender Jackson LaCombe just landed on his extension and is what Luke Hughes landed from the Devils as a 10.2(c) RFA this offseason. Hughes is the more direct comparable – while LaCombe’s stats are less impressive, he’s far older and the contract buys out six years of UFA eligibility. An eight-year extension for Hutson would only swallow up three of them.

Whether the Habs can continue to develop Hutson’s all-around game to make him a true cornerstone No. 1 remains to be seen. Still, the diminutive 21-year-old is coming off one of the more impressive rookie seasons in recent memory. The 5’9″ lefty took home last year’s Calder Trophy after recording a 6-60–66 scoring line in 82 games, tied for sixth in the league among defensemen and the most by a first-year rearguard since Brian Leetch’s 71 points in 1988-89.

Atlantic Notes: Hutson, Jensen, Senators, Greer

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With new contracts handed out in recent days to Luke Hughes and Jackson LaCombe, some attention has shifted to Canadiens blueliner Lane Hutson.  While he still has one year left on his entry-level contract, the belief is that there is mutual interest in getting something done before the season begins.  In a recent appearance on Daily Faceoff’s The Sheet (video link), David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period suggested that the blueliner appears to be willing to leave a bit of money on the table, similar to what several of his teammates did in an effort to give themselves a chance to continue to add down the road.  However, that discount might be capped at a few hundred thousand per season on a long-term pact.  With both Hughes and LaCombe checking in at $9MM, it stands to reason that Hutson could very well land close to that number on his next deal as well, whether that comes now, in-season, or next summer.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Senators defenseman Nick Jensen told reporters including Sportsnet’s Alex Adams (Twitter link) that he will suit up in Saturday’s preseason finale against Montreal. The 35-year-old underwent offseason hip surgery and at the time, it looked unlikely that he’d be back for the start of the regular season.  However, his recovery has been ahead of schedule and now he’ll get a chance to get a game in to see if he’ll be ready for opening night.  Jensen played a big role for Ottawa last season, averaging over 20 minutes a game while chipping in with 21 points in 71 outings, many of which were played through injury.
  • Still with the Senators, after recalling eight players back on Tuesday who had already been cut, the team announced (Twitter link) that all eight – Tyler Boucher, Hunter Shepard, Jorian Donovan, Oskar Pettersson, Xavier Bourgault, Tomas Hamara, Keean Washkurak, and Scott Harrington, have been sent back to AHL Belleville.
  • The league announced that the Department of Player Safety has fined Panthers winger A.J. Greer $2,213.54, the maximum allowable in the CBA, for a roughing incident on Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel. Thursday’s affair between the two sides was particularly chippy with the two teams combining for 186 penalty minutes, a dozen of which went to Greer on the play.

East Notes: Hutson, Milano, Spicer

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In a recent article on The Athletic, Corey Pronman ranked 173 players under the age of 23 who are currently on NHL teams’ reserve lists. This means that these players may not be playing for their respective teams just yet. In a major snub to the reigning Calder Memorial Trophy winner, Pronman ranked Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson 34th on that list, lower than eight other defensemen.

Hutson finished the 2024-25 campaign with six goals and 66 points in 82 games, tying Larry Murphy’s rookie assist record for defensemen from the 1980-81 campaign. Not only did Hutson receive 150 more first-place votes than the next closest (Dustin Wolf) in rookie of the year voting, but he also made some noise in the Norris Trophy voting, finishing ninth in voting with one third-place vote, five fourth-place votes, and 22 fifth-place votes.

Pronman acknowledged Hutson’s scoring prowess, but based much of his ranking on Hutson’s defensive quality. In the article, Pronman said, “He’s a small defenseman without high-end feet or physicality. He works hard, but he can get bullied in physical play, and without high-end athletic traits, he will have trouble defending the fastest, strongest forwards, especially in the playoffs.”

Other notes from the Eastern Conference:

  • After being limited to just three games during the 2024-25 season due to an upper-body injury, Washington Capitals forward Sonny Milano is continuing to work his way back to the team’s lineup. The Capitals aren’t setting any hard guidelines for the quality of his play when he returns, only hoping that he eventually does return. Tom Gulitti of NHL.com shared a quote from head coach Spencer Carbery, saying, “The way I look at Sonny right now is I’m looking at it from a standpoint of him just getting back into practice and game action and going from there. There’s no unrealistic expectations of him. Not putting any pressure on him. We just want him to get into camp, feel good health-wise and just take it from there.“
  • The defending National Champions, the Western Michigan University Broncos, have earned a commitment from a Boston Bruins prospect. The Broncos announced that Cole Spicer, who last played for the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints, will join the program for the 2025-26 NCAA season. Despite playing in the USHL last year, Spicer has prior NCAA experience, suiting up in 49 games for the University of Minnesota-Duluth from 2022 to 2024.

Morning Notes: Hutson, Papaioannou, Rodrigue

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Extension talks between the Canadiens and pending 10.2(c) RFA Lane Hutson are still in their preliminary stages but have been “very amicable,” sources tell RG’s Marco D’Amico.

D’Amico deep dives into a couple of peculiarities impacting Hutson’s next deal, the first of which is his inability to receive an offer sheet next summer due to his lack of professional experience. That takes significant pressure off the Canadiens to rush things with the reigning Calder Trophy winner while also somewhat limiting Hutson’s leverage to command north of $10MM per season on a mid-to-long-term deal, as some have speculated.

After erupting for 60 assists and 66 points in all 82 games in his first crack at the NHL, Hutson will be up for his first standard contract at just 22 years old with five years of team control remaining. That means a long-term deal may not be in the cards – a four-year contract would give them one more try at negotiating with Hutson under team control and would allow him to land a payday at age 26 amid his peak.

That could result in a more conservative cap hit in the $8.8MM to $9.5MM range when an extension does get done eventually, D’Amico writes, citing other 10.2(c) comparables in the past few years like Brock Faber, Quinn Hughes, and Jake Sanderson. They’re also likely keeping talks quiet until another 10.2(c) RFA defenseman, Luke Hughes, signs his next deal with the Devils to give Hutson’s camp a more recent comparable to work with.

More from around hockey today:

  • The ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers have named Ryan Papaioannou as their new head coach, their NHL parent Penguins announced. Papaioannou, 41, had been the GM and head coach of the junior ’A’ Brooks Bandits since 2009-10, spending nearly all of that time in the Alberta Junior Hockey League until they moved to the British Columbia Hockey League last season. He guided the Bandits to five AJHL titles, one BCHL title, and won AJHL Coach of the Year honors three times (2013, 2019, 2022). He succeeds Derek Army, who left to become an assistant coach with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, as Pittsburgh’s second-tier affiliate bench boss.
  • Former Oilers depth netminder Olivier Rodrigue has signed a one-year contract with Kazakhstan’s Barys Astana in the KHL, per a club announcement. The 25-year-old had spent the last five years in Edmonton’s system, primarily with AHL Bakersfield, but was not given a qualifying offer this summer following a tough campaign. He was limited to a .897 SV%, 3.12 GAA, and an 18-16-8 record in 41 showings for Bakersfield. He also made his NHL debut, allowing four goals on 29 shots across one start and one relief appearance.

Canadiens’ Lane Hutson Faces Another Unprecedented Season

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Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson cemented himself in hockey history with his Calder Trophy-winning rookie season last year. His 60 assists tied Larry Murphy for the most ever recorded by a rookie defender, while his 66 total points ranked fifth in history. Hutson’s company on the leaderboards is full of Hall-of-Fame talent, including Chris Chelios (50 A, 56 TP as a rookie), Nicklas Lidstrom (49 A, 60 TP), and Ray Bourque (48 A, 65 TP). But despite the warm company, Hutson still faces a task unlike any of his highly-touted peers. He has to show he can follow it up.

Many former high-scoring, rookie defenders have earned their keep on both ends of the ice. Hutson breaks that mold. He is the first to ever cross the 60-point – or, even the 50-point – mark while recording a negative plus-minus. The only players to manage similar feats were Phil Housley, Quinn Hughes, and Moritz Seider – who each finished their rookie campaigns short of both the 50-point mark and positive plus-minus. That certainly speaks to the high-event ice time Hutson experienced, but it shouldn’t come as a direct attack on his defensive acumen.

Instead, it’s a testament to Hutson’s deeply unique style. He’s a hyper-mobile defender, who uses crafty stickhandling and skillful skating to sneak into the tightest spaces between opponents. Many defenders have excelled with those talents, but few are rarely look as gifted as Hutson. That degree of finesse helps Hutson make up for an otherwise scrawny frame – though one not lacking any physical gumption – in a way that seems reminiscent of former greats like Housley.

But where Housley went on to net 1,232 career points, the next highest-scoring defenseman under the height of 5’11” was Randy Carlyle, who finished his career with 647 points. That’s an extreme gap, not helped by the fact that Carlyle weighed in at over 200-pounds.

The NHL is not built to support nimble and skillful offensive-defensemen. It’s too heavy and physical of a league. And yet, Hutson showed no signs of struggling as he stomped his way to Montreal’s top defender role last season. He blazed that path with the same agility, instinct, and cool-headedness that’s made him successful as far back as youth hockey.

Then again, NHL game planning is better than ever as teams begin to lean on video tracking and analytics to support their pre-game prep. Many of Hutson’s break-ins came on the outskirts of the offensive zone, and his scoring chances from creative passes after working into space on the boards or behind the net. As teams adjust for that, Hutson will face the imposing question of if he can adjust his game too. Putting on more weight and continuing to improve at getting back on defense could go a long way towards building the full, all-three-zones ability that could push Hutson’s game to a truly special level. But if teams catch on to how to stop him before he has time to take the next step, he could quickly struggle to make the same plays he always has.

That will be the task that faces Hutson next season – and its result could define Montreal’s blue-line for years to come. Hutson is up for a new contract next summer, and could sign an extension at any point now that July 1st has passed. Of the nine other defensemen to score at least 60 points in their rookie year, seven have gone on to play in over 1,000 NHL games. The other two still managed hundreds of games of their own (Reed Larson, 904; Barry Beck, 615). And yet, it’s hard to think any have deviated from the view of average NHL defender quite like Hutson.

He’s among tremendous company, and seems headed for many years of incredible hockey after such a strong start. But it seems that the true, special aspects of Hutson’s career will be defined by how his sophomore season goes. In proving he can continue to perform at all-star levels, Hutson will not only earn what’s sure to be a lofty contract next summer, but could cement his spot in Montreal’s top role for the next seven or eight seasons. He’s now joined by fellow, flashy company in Noah Dobson – and could get the support from more defensively-focused peers like Kaiden Guhle, Alexandre Carrier, and Mike Matheson.

The extent to which that supporting cast can boost Hutson to an encore performance will make his 2025-26 campaign much-watch hockey, even after he’s earned the  ’Rookie of the Year’ title in a special Calder Trophy race.

NHL Announces 2024-25 All-Rookie Team

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Considering the votes for the 2024-25 Calder Memorial Trophy, there weren’t many surprises on this year’s All-Rookie Team, which the NHL announced this morning. There were three unanimous selections, while the other three winners had a closer vote margin. The team is as follows:

G Dustin Wolf  (Flames) – Wolf finished second in Calder Trophy voting after a superb rookie campaign. The 24-year-old netminder finished the year with a 29-16-8 record in 53 starts with a .910 SV% and 2.64 GAA. Furthermore, Wolf finished with 15.1 Goals Saved Above Average according to Hockey Reference, and nearly backstopped the Calgary Flames to the postseason despite expectations of a rebuilding year.

D Lane Hutson (Canadiens) – Joining Wolf as another unanimous selection to the 2024-25 All-Rookie Team, Hutson was this year’s Calder Trophy winner. Scoring six goals and 66 points in 82 games while averaging 22:44 of ice time per game, Hutson joined Bobby Orr, Brian Leetch, and Quinn Hughes as the only defensemen to lead rookies in scoring during their respective inaugural campaigns.

D Denton Mateychuk (Blue Jackets) – Although he didn’t share similar point production to Hutson, Mateychuk had a quietly productive campaign for the Columbus Blue Jackets, scoring four goals and 13 points in 45 games, averaging 18:02 of ice time a night. Much of Mateychuk’s value came on the defensive side of the puck, securing a 91.4% on-ice save percentage at even strength despite starting 57.4% of his shifts in the defensive zone.

F Macklin Celebrini (Sharks) – As last summer’s first overall selection, expectations were high for Celebrini this season. He largely lived up to them, scoring 25 goals and 63 points in 70 games, finishing third in Calder Trophy voting. There were some significant defensive shortcomings in Celebrini’s game, but that should improve as he matures and has better teammates around him. He outscored last year’s Calder Trophy winner, Connor Bedard, by two points in two more games played.

F Cutter Gauthier (Ducks) – Gauthier finished with the fewest vote totals for an All-Rookie nod with 79 out of a potential 187. Still, it was enough to earn third place among forwards. Despite being streaky, Gauthier finished fifth in scoring on the Ducks with 20 goals and 44 points in 82 games. Gauthier’s offensive output should improve with increased ice time during the 2025-26 season, as he finished his rookie campaign averaging slightly above 14 minutes a night.

F Matvei Michkov (Flyers) – Although he wasn’t a unanimous selection like Wolf, Hutson, or Celebrini, Michkov finished one vote shy of those honors. He came exactly as advertised for the Philadelphia Flyers, scoring 26 goals and 63 points in 80 games, leading the team in goal-scoring and finishing second in total output. Like Celebrini, there were significant defensive shortcomings in Michkov’s game throughout the regular season, but those won’t be as important an issue for a winger.

Canadiens’ Lane Hutson Wins 2025 Calder Trophy

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Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson has been voted the 2025 Calder Memorial Trophy winner as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year, the league announced Tuesday.

It’s a fitting honor for Hutson, whose historic first season helped fuel Montreal to its first playoff berth in four years. His 60 assists and 66 points broke Hall-of-Famer Chris Chelios’ franchise records of 55 and 64, respectively, by a Canadiens defenseman in his first NHL season.

That offensive dominance by the 5’9″ rearguard, who fell to Montreal with the 62nd overall pick of the 2022 draft due to some overreactionary concerns about his diminutive frame, made him a clear No. 1 ROTY in voters’ eyes. While he wasn’t a unanimous first-place vote, 165 of 191 (86.4%) of ballots had him in the top slot, relays Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. No one else received first-place votes out of the other finalists for the award, Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf (15) and Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (11).

There was a clear demarcation between the top four and the rest of the pack. Outside of the finalists, only Flyers winger Matvei Michkov (eight second-place votes, 26 third-place votes) landed a top-three spot on voters’ ballots. The full voting breakdown, which involves a 10-7-5-3-1 points allocation as standard, is as follows:

  1. Hutson – 1,832 (165-26-0-0-0)
  2. Wolf – 1,169 (15-96-59-17-1)
  3. Celebrini – 1,104 (11-61-106-12-1)
  4. Michkov – 645 (0-8-26-151-6)
  5. F Cutter Gauthier (Ducks) – 92 (0-0-0-6-74)
  6. F Will Smith (Sharks) – 62 (0-0-0-2-56)
  7. F Logan Stankoven (Hurricanes) – 22 (0-0-0-2-16)
  8. F Zachary Bolduc (Blues) – 20 (0-0-0-1-17)
  9. F Jackson Blake (Hurricanes) – 9 (0-0-0-0-9)
  10. F Marco Kasper (Red Wings) – 7 (0-0-0-0-7)
  11. F Mackie Samoskevich (Panthers) – 2 (0-0-0-0-2)
  12. D Drew Helleson (Ducks) – 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
    D Denton Mateychuk (Blue Jackets) – 1 (0-0-0-0-1)

Hutson hitting the 60-assist plateau also tied him with Larry Murphy for the all-time record for most assists by a rookie rearguard and helped tie him for sixth in the league in scoring among all defenders this year with Lightning star Victor Hedman. He was the most efficient point-producer of the top nine highest-scoring defenders, averaging the lowest time on ice of the group at 22:44 per game.

While he’ll need to be paired with a strong, defensively grounded partner at even strength to achieve his maximum effectiveness at his peak, something Montreal seems to have found by icing Kaiden Guhle on his off side, he’s set up well to serve as the Habs’ No. 1 defenseman for years to come as they exit their rebuild with their new core. He’s also the first Canadien to win the Calder since Hall-of-Fame goalie Ken Dryden in 1972.

Image courtesy of Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images.

Atlantic Notes: Robertson, Hutson, Heponiemi

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While Nicholas Robertson got into a career-high 69 games with the Maple Leafs this season, his trade request from last year still stands, reports Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic (subscription link).  The 23-year-old had a career-best 15 goals this season and even chipped in with a pair of points in three postseason outings.  However, playing time remained hard to come by as he averaged just 12 minutes a night of ice time and it’s clear he’d like a shot at a bigger role elsewhere.  Robertson is a pending restricted free agent owed a qualifying offer of just under $919K.  However, he’s also arbitration-eligible which could push his price tag closer to the $1.5MM range.  If Toronto isn’t willing to pay that price, Robertson could get his wish for a change of scenery in the coming weeks.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • While Lane Hutson will be eligible for a contract extension this summer, Arpon Basu of The Athletic posits (subscription link) that this file might not get done right away. The Canadiens have tried to keep their core players signing below captain Nick Suzuki’s $7.875MM but Hutson’s rookie year, his comparable players, plus the big increases coming in the salary cap will make that difficult.  It’s possible Montreal opts for a shorter-term pact to keep the AAV lower but it could also make sense to see what happens next year and decide from there.  Hutson, a Calder Trophy finalist, had six goals and 60 assists in 82 games this season.
  • After moving on from his team in Switzerland to become a free agent, it looked like there was a chance that Aleksi Heponiemi could be returning to the Panthers. However, that’s not the case as he recently inked a two-year deal with HV71 in the SHL, per a team release.  The 26-year-old has 25 career NHL games with Florida under his belt but after being primarily in the minors in North America, he headed overseas two years ago.  This past season with EHC Biel-Bienne, Heponiemi had 18 points in 37 games.  Florida will retain his rights as a restricted free agent through next summer.

Poll: Who Will Win The 2025 Calder Memorial Trophy?

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Unlike many years where there is a clear-cut favorite for the Calder Memorial Trophy, the 2024-25 season had different ideas. A reasonable case could be made for any of this year’s finalists: Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens, Dustin Wolf of the Calgary Flames, and Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks.

Hutson likely has the strongest case of the trio. The former 62nd overall selection scored six goals and 60 assists in 82 games for the Canadiens this season, tying Hall-of-Famer Larry Murphy for the most assists recorded by a rookie defenseman. The 20-year-old blue liner ranked second on Montreal in ATOI (22:44) and was a large part of their run to the postseason for the first time since the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. Additionally, Hutson led the Canadiens in postseason scoring with five assists in five games.

Meanwhile, Wolf looks to become the first netminder to win the award since Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2008-09. He finished with a slightly worse year than Mason, comparatively, managing a 29-16-8 record in 53 games with a .910 SV% and 2.64 GAA. Still, although Mason backstopped the Blue Jackets to their first postseason appearance in 2009, Wolf was a major reason the Flames remained competitive until the last week of the regular season.

Lastly, last summer’s first overall pick will also be up for the award. Celebrini was one of the few bright spots on a rebuilding Sharks team, leading the team in scoring with 25 goals and 63 points in 70 games. His offensive output tied with fellow-rookie Matvei Michkov of the Philadelphia Flyers (in 10 fewer games), and bested last year’s Calder recipient, the Chicago Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard, by two points in two additional contests. Celebrini’s 25 goals accounted for 12% of all San Jose goals this season.

Although the members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) will have the final say in who ultimately wins the award, it’s time to cast your vote. Who do you think will win this year’s Calder Memorial Trophy? Vote below!

Who Will Win The 2025 Calder Memorial Trophy?
Lane Hutson (Montreal Canadiens) 69.40% (2,304 votes)
Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks) 15.69% (521 votes)
Dustin Wolf (Calgary Flames) 14.91% (495 votes)
Total Votes: 3,320

If the poll doesn’t show up for you, click here to vote.

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