The Canadian | Three on Slack: defense

Guillaume Lefrançois

Well, well, gentlemen, I am happy to see us here together for an autumn.

Simon-Olivier Lorange

“See” being used here in the figurative sense. As if we were going to travel for that.

Guillaume Lefrançois

I’m doing this chat with your photo of The Press in a corner of the screen to pretend you are there.

Simon-Olivier Lorange

Your life, your choices.

Richard Labbé

I already like everything.

Guillaume Lefrançois

I will not go through Lac-Etchemin. So, let’s get to the heart of the matter. Which defender will amass the most points with the Canadian this season: Mike Matheson or Lane Hutson? I remind you to read the question carefully: we do not count the points that Hutson could score in Laval, but especially not those that Matheson could score elsewhere in the NHL or the M points that he amasses when he takes command.

Simon-Olivier Lorange

This is a very loaded question. As questions, rather, because there seem to me to be three of them.

Richard Labbe

Mike Matheson, because he’s coming back from a 62-point season, and he’s going to have a less good season, which will still give him a 52-point season, and then, to quote a Bruins manager from Boston, he will have 64 million good reasons to demand a new contract. (Well, OK, maybe not 64, but you’ll be surprised the same.)

Simon-Olivier Lorange

Mike Matheson will have more points than Lane Hutson, and both will do it in Montreal. I expect a bit of a decline from Matheson, whose 62-point haul looks like an aberration in his career. But the 50 point mark seems very, very [ajoutez beaucoup de très]very ambitious for Hutson.

Richard Labbé

I just said that exactly.

Guillaume Lefrançois

TALK TO YOURSELF!

Richard Labbe

Did Simon-Olivier receive the questions in advance?

Guillaume Lefrançois

Simon-Olivier hacked my computer, I fear.

Richard Labbe

It happens to the best.

Simon-Olivier Lorange

Who would have thought that colleagues who spend hundreds of hours together every year would have the same opinion, eh?

But I would like us not to sleep on the pitfalls in Guillaume’s question. Do you think Matheson will be traded?

Richard Labbé

100%.

Guillaume Lefrançois

I was getting there, exactly.

Richard Labbe

The Canadiens are going to stay true to their holiday tradition of being eliminated at the holidays, so Matheson is going to become a hot commodity.

Guillaume Lefrançois

We talk, but in a scenario where, in February, the Canadian is not in the mix, the name of Mike Matheson will circulate a lot. Someone, somewhere will need a defender who can jump-start the offense, costing less than $5 million through July 2026.

Simon-Olivier Lorange

I have the impression that we are preparing for the same discussions as last year: whether or not to trade the rare veterans on defense – so Matheson and David Savard? I’m not ready to comment on this just yet. Because I find it hard to believe that we will give the keys to the defense to Kaiden Guhle and tell him: deal with this.

Richard Labbé

An opposing GM whose club aspires to something and who thinks of himself as a Cup player will not have the desire to negotiate with the Canadian, but Matheson is a candidate in my opinion.

The good news, too, is that the Canadian, eliminated in December, will already be able to record Reconstruction: the return.

Simon-Olivier Lorange

YES, RICHARD.

Guillaume Lefrançois

That said, to return to SOL’s point, Savard is in the last year of his contract. With the Canadian not in the running, Hughes will have no choice but to trade him in February if he receives an offer that makes sense. In his case as in that of Matheson, individually, the idea of ​​a transaction is defended. But overall, does it hold up just as well?

Simon-Olivier Lorange

So. The buzzword of the 2024 camp is “mix”, but that of 2025 will be “series”. As in “playoffs.” The defense will have to have strength, and it will take veterans, not just young people of 22, 23, 24 years old. I think Mike Matheson can still help the Habs in 2025-2026 if young people force the coaches to reduce his responsibilities. Matheson on a second duo, because another left-hander will have supplanted him on the first? It’s not a bad scenario, especially at this price.

Richard Labbe

I also wonder if management thinks that there will be series in a year, or at least a chance of series. But if that is the case, indeed, I would retain Matheson. Until further notice, he is the club’s only quarterback.

Guillaume Lefrançois

With all that said, the conversation turned entirely to Matheson. I understand that Hutson in the Canadian’s top 4 on October 9 is a reason heard. But we also saw certain shortcomings in the preparatory matches, for example when the opponent counter-attacks and he has to skate backwards. Do you think Lane Hutson will go a full year without using the Médéric-Martin bridge?

Simon-Olivier Lorange

Absolutely.

Although management may have said that it did not rule out the idea of ​​selling it to the Laval Rocket, we see a Juraj Slafkovsky-style scenario being written: we will live and die with Lane Hutson’s mistakes. If he commits it, of course.

Guillaume Lefrançois

Four exchanges late, I’d like to congratulate you on “word-buzz”.

Simon-Olivier Lorange

Thank you, that’s nice. No chance that I will thank you for “I will not go through Lac-Etchemin”.

Guillaume Lefrançois

Richard Labbe

Hutson, management has him in very high esteem, it’s true, so he will have every chance to shine. Next, I can’t believe it’s going to be a walk in the park. To quote Axl Rose: Nothing lasts forever, not even the cold November rain.

Simon-Olivier Lorange

I also don’t think it will be magical every night with Hutson. That said, it’s not as if we have just witnessed a particularly strong defensive camp.

Guillaume Lefrançois

Would you say that the Canadian is “wearing out his illusions” about Hutson?

Richard Labbe

Yes, in duplicate, like the album.

Guillaume Lefrançois

OK, OK, let’s attack.