It could have been a brilliant, memorable night — the Canadiens bouncing back from a 9-2 loss to Pittsburgh to win one in Winnipeg, with 20-year-old rookie defenceman Lane Hutson getting his first NHL goal to give his team a short-lived 1-0 lead.
It wasn’t to be.
Hutson has been the brightest spot in a season that has begun to sag like the roof of an old barn under too much December rain. He now has one goal and 19 assists for 20 points, so he has had a hand in nearly a quarter of the team’s goals. It would have been a delight to see the Canadiens win one the evening he scored his first NHL goal but it wasn’t in the cards, so we’ll have to make do with the young man’s smile.
The Canadiens fell behind 3-1 after Hutson’s goal, battled back to 3-2 in the third period when Josh Anderson finished a pretty play — but could get no closer. The story of the game could be written in seven words: Too many penalties, too much Connor Hellebuyck.
Still, Hutson is the diamond in the Canadiens rebuild to date. When you can get a move-the-needle player like this guy with the 62nd pick in the 2022 draft, you’re doing your homework.
With Hutson already established as the team’s best defenceman 32 games into his career and punching well above his 162 pounds, the Canadiens are still on the outside looking in. They languish at the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings with 25 points, ahead of only the Blackhawks and the Predators in the entire NHL and in line for another top-five draft pick, which wouldn’t hurt the rebuild at all.
Even with Patrik Laine playing well and the healthiest roster they’ve had in years, the Canadiens are still struggling. Nor are they alone. Rebuilds are hard. The next four games, beginning Tuesday night at the Bell Centre, are against teams that are basically in the same situation: the Sabres first, then a home-and-home against the rebuilding Detroit Red Wings before they meet the Blue Jackets in Columbus.
After losing to the mighty Maple Leafs in Toronto Sunday, the Sabres have now lost 10 straight games. They will come to town with 26 points in 31 games — one point more than the Canadiens, who hold a game in hand.
Worse, the Sabres haven’t made the playoffs since the 2010-2011 season when they lost in the first round. It’s the longest playoff drought in NHL history and counting, since it’s highly unlikely Buffalo will make the playoffs this season.
Buffalo is an especially hard team to figure. They have two No. 1 overall picks on the blue line in Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power. They have a big, dangerous scorer in Tage Thompson. They even brought back Lindy Ruff, who coached the team for roughly a century back in the day.
The result? Bupkis — and a 10-game losing streak.
Detroit? A decade ago, the Red Wings had a pretty good team. Between 2014 and 2016 they had strong regular-season campaigns but lost in the first round of the playoffs each year and haven’t been back since. Wings legend Steve Yzerman returned to the organization from Tampa in April 2019, but the Yzerplan has had even less success in Detroit than the Shanaplan in Toronto.
Columbus? The Blue Jackets haven’t been to the post-season since 2020 and their long-term prospects probably depend on the health of Cayden Lindstrom’s troublesome back after they passed on Ivan Demidov to take Lindstrom in the June draft and the Habs said “thank you very much.”
It would appear that Demidov is the second draft coup of the rebuild, after Hutson. Big, strong, a superb skater, a point machine.
There are holes, clearly. The Canadiens need a bona fide second-line centre. They need Juraj Slafkovsky to find his game and Kirby Dach to locate his confidence. They’ve been extraordinarily patient with Cayden Primeau, but by now it’s clear they need a better backup goaltender — like Jake Allen, say.
Once you commit to a rebuild, stay the course. Meanwhile, the last time the Canadiens had a player who was as much fun to watch as Hutson, he wore number 10 and we called him the Flower.
Scouting for the Victoire: You have never heard of her (neither had I) but the Victoire should keep an eye on 16-year-old Nela Lopusanova of the Slovak women’s national team, who had 11 goals and 18 points in three games during the qualifiers for the 2026 Olympics.
Lopusanova developed her game in the same boys’ leagues as Juraj Slafkovsky and, we’re told, put up bigger numbers than he did. Maybe the Habs should keep an eye on her, too.
Heroes: Lane Hutson, Patrik Laine, Samuel Montembeault, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Arber Xhekaj, Florian Xhekaj, Josh Anderson, Kristian Matte, Gukesh Dommaraju, Deanna Stellato-Dudek, Josh Allen, Kylie Masse, &&&& last but not least, Summer McIntosh.
Zeros: Sean Higgins, FIFA, Saudi Arabia, Gianni Infantino, FanDuel, the drop pass, Joe Rogan, Wayne Gretzky, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.
Now and forever.
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