What the Puck: Canadiens need to re-sign Lane Hutson, add toughness

This is going to be a defining summer for the Canadiens management team of Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes. The Toronto Maple Leafs had (have?) their Core Four and we all know how that worked out, right? Not so good. Their top hockey boss was shown the door this week and the team is no closer to contending for a Stanley Cup than they were back in 2014 when Brendan Shanahan was named head of hockey operations. The Canadiens have their Core Five, all of whom we got to admire on the power play during the Washington series once Patrik Laine went down with an injury. The Fabulous Five are, of course, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson and Ivan

That is, indeed, an amazing young core. But now comes the hardest part, that which Leafs management has consistently failed to address — building a support staff to surround the core group. Hockey is the ultimate team sport. It’s never about one or two or three guys. It’s about the entire team. Look at the Florida Panthers. They have some great players — hello, Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov — but they’re the best team in hockey right now because they are the most complete one. (It also helps that, especially in the playoffs, they’re also the dirtiest team, but that’s a topic for another day.)