The Montreal Canadiens earned their first win of the 2023-24 season on Saturday night, narrowly defeating the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of 3-2. The game was much closer in score than it should have been, however, with the Habs in firm control for nearly the entire 60 minutes.

The fans who took in the Bell Centre opener were treated to some very encouraging performances, some much more important than a tick in the win column.

Cole Caufield put together one such performance, and looks poised to do something no Hab has done in quite some time.

The narrative around Caufield going into this season has been all about whether he can hit that 40-goal plateau, becoming the first to do it in Montreal since Vincent Damphousse in 1993. With the way he’s playing right now, the question we may all want to be asking is if he can go even further, and cross the 50-goal mark before the year ends.

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Canadiens Need to Take Their Time With Lane Hutson

While this season wasn’t exactly thrilling in Montreal with the now-usual overabundance of losses and injuries,

morale and excitement went straight up when a fresh crop of blueliners was given its first taste of NHL action. Lane Hutson featured in two games, one away and one at home, while Logan Mailloux was inserted in the lineup for the final game.

In hockey-mad Montreal, fans ordered their brand-new Hutson jersey before they had seen him skate live. How should the organization handle the young blueliner’s development next season?

Beware of the Hype

Since Hutson was picked 62nd overall by the Montreal Canadiens at the 2022 Draft, we’ve seen numerous highlight reel goals and plays from the 5-foot-10 and 162-pound defence prospect, perhaps even too many.

As good as Hutson looks on those highlights, the fact is, he’s pulling those moves off on players of his age or younger, not on seasoned NHL veterans.

Make no mistake, there are big and slow veterans in the league, but there are also fresh legs and active sticks.

The Cale Makars and Quinn Hughes of the world will be able to catch Hutson and whether he’ll be able to beat them when they do remains to be seen.

His height may not be an issue in the NCAA or at lower levels, but the NHL is where it matters the most.

I’m not saying he’ll struggle for sure, but, likely, he will not take to the NHL like a fish to water.

Granted, he didn’t look out of place in the first two games he played, but those were meaningless games against the already-eliminated Detroit Red Wings.

When the puck drops next season though, everyone will once again be in the running for the playoffs and there will be no lack of intensity.

Brace yourself Canadiens’ fans, we’ve rarely seen a blue-line prospect come with this much hype – before going crazy though, give him the time he needs to adjust and work on his game. Montreal is not winning the Stanley Cup next year and he’s got plenty of time to grow into the hype, as long as unfair expectations don’t weigh him down.