Lane Hutson’s new deal with the Canadiens has already invited one of the NHL’s favorite lazy comparisons, but Marco D’Amico says it’s not a fair one. The numbers are loud enough on their own: Hutson signed an eight-year, $70.8 million extension in Montreal, while Cale Makar landed an eight-year, $163.2 million extension in Colorado. But D’Amico’s point is that the contracts were negotiated in completely different worlds.
“Lane Hutson was a 10.2(c) RFA with one season under his belt and no recourse to offer sheets or arbitration,” he posted on X.
“His contract is a steal, but comparing it to Cale Makar is just silly,” D’Amico added. “Top D in the NHL, with a ring and a Conn Smythe that was 11 months away from UFA status.”
Makar’s $20.4 million average annual value makes him the highest-paid player in the NHL. That payday comes with a résumé that already includes six full seasons, two Norris Trophies, a Stanley Cup and the 2022 Conn Smythe Trophy. Hutson, by contrast, got his long-term extension after just one completed NHL season.
That difference in timing is the whole story. Montreal locked Hutson in before he could hit unrestricted free agency, buying eight years of cost certainty. Colorado, meanwhile, is paying Makar for a player who has already proven he can drive a contender and deliver in the playoffs.
Hutson’s 2025-26 season only sharpened the conversation. He put up 12 goals and 66 assists for 78 points, numbers that put him in the same neighborhood as Makar’s 79 points in 75 games that season. But D’Amico was clear that one season of production doesn’t erase the broader context.
“It’s two players at different points in their career,” he wrote.
“Just like Makar, when Lane reached UFA status, he’ll cash in then too,” D’Amico continued. “Montreal is just getting the value the Avs have been getting out of Makar the last 6 years.”
That’s why the Hutson-Makar comparison falls apart. One deal is about an early commitment to a rising young defenseman. The other is the price of keeping a finished star in his prime.
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The biggest part of the picture, though, is the one move that changes how everything else is judged: Cale Makar is now locked in on an eight-year extension that keeps the franchise cornerstone in Denver through 2035. For a team that already expects to contend, that kind of long-term certainty only sharpens the pressure, because praise in June means a lot less than the answer to the one question that always follows in the spring. [Read more 🡒]