The Canadiens’ March 21, 2022 trade of Brett Kulak looked like a clean deadline move at the time. Montreal sent the veteran defenseman to the Edmonton Oilers for William Lagesson, a second-round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft and a seventh-round pick in 2024. It was the kind of transaction rebuilding teams make all the time: move an expiring player, collect assets and keep the pipeline moving.
What nobody could have seen coming was how much that second-round pick would change the organization.
Kulak was exactly the type of defender contenders chase in March. Edmonton wanted help on the blue line for a push it hoped would last deep into the spring, and Kulak fit the bill as a reliable, mobile left-shot defenseman who could handle minutes in different spots in the lineup. Montreal, meanwhile, had little reason to hold onto a pending unrestricted free agent when it could turn him into future value instead of watching him walk.
The deal worked for Kulak, too. He settled in quickly with the Oilers and spent three full seasons there, becoming a steady veteran who could take on tough defensive work and provide depth during long playoff runs. Edmonton reached the Stanley Cup Final twice with him on the blue line, and Kulak gave the team exactly what contenders want from players in that role: dependable minutes, no fuss, and a willingness to do the dirty work.
His time in Edmonton ended in December 2025, when the Oilers traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins with goaltender Stuart Skinner and a second-round pick in exchange for Tristan Jarry and Samuel Poulin. A few months later, Pittsburgh sent Kulak on again, this time to the Colorado Avalanche, where he joined another playoff team.
But the real twist in this story belongs to Montreal.
Lagesson never became more than organizational depth, and the 2024 seventh-round pick has yet to produce an NHL contributor. The pick that mattered was the second-rounder in 2022, because that selection became Lane Hutson. Montreal got a player many teams passed over because of concerns about size, even though the talent was obvious.
Hutson has since turned into one of the NHL’s most electric young defensemen. His skating, vision and offensive creativity have already changed the look of Montreal’s blue line, and he has become one of the core pieces of the rebuild. Alongside Noah Dobson, Kaiden Guhle and the team’s other young defensemen, Hutson has helped give the Canadiens a group that looks built to last.
When Kent Hughes moved Kulak, the idea was simple: get value before the asset disappeared. Instead, Montreal landed a player with the potential to anchor its defense for years. That’s how a trade that seemed routine at the time ended up becoming one of the most important moves of the rebuild.
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