News and Notes from the 2025 Charity Golf Tournament

The Habs held their annual charity golf tournament on Monday in advance of training camp starting later this week.  Here’s a rundown of the news from the interviews with players and management.

Extension Talks

While there has been plenty of talk about when the Habs might get an extension with Lane Hutson done, not much has been said about those negotiating the extension.  However, Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reported that talks are underway to extend the contract of GM Kent Hughes and VP Jeff Gorton.  Gorton is believed to be in the final year of his deal while Hughes was believed to have signed a five-year contract when he was hired so if that report was true, he’s signed through 2026-27.

Kirby Dach

One of the storylines in recent weeks has been the suggestion that Kirby Dach isn’t quite ready to return.  Gorton tried to pour cold water on that idea, saying they have a plan in place to have him ready for opening night.  That suggests that he might not be fully ready to start training camp and that he’ll be eased into things.  With Montreal not being able to add an impact centre over the summer, Dach is a speculative candidate to start as the second-line pivot even though he didn’t exactly fare well in that role last season.

Wanting To Add

With moving Carey Price’s contract, the Habs have more than $4 million in cap space at their disposal.  It doesn’t sound as if there are any plans to spend that just yet.  However, Gorton stated that the Canadiens are always open to adding while Hughes went to one of his more used phrases, indicating that “If we have to overpay to get a player who we think will be important to the future of this team, we’ll do it”.  That said, those types of players generally aren’t available in the middle of September.

Hutson Clears The Air

Earlier this offseason, Hutson’s father made waves when he stated that his sons are also Canadians following a question about Lane not being invited to Team USA’s development camp.  That led to some wondering if Hutson could ultimately switch allegiances.  Hutson quickly put an end to that talk, saying that he’s proud to be an American so any ill-founded hopes of him suiting up for Canada can now be put to rest.

Playoffs

Last year, few wanted to say the word playoffs but the focus was how they wanted to be ‘in the mix’.  There was no clearly rehearsed catchphrase this time around but Gorton wouldn’t go as far as saying the season would be a failure if the Canadiens miss the postseason this time around.

Cuts

Following Sunday’s rookie game, the Habs announced that eight players had been cut from camp.  They are:

Goalies: Arseni Radkov, Mikus Vecvanags
Defence: Carlos Handel, Simon Lavigne*, Andrew MacNiel, Maleek McGowan*, Bryce Pickford
Forward: Matthew Wang*

*-released from tryout