Lines and defense pairings at morning skate – Apr. 15

DETROIT - Lane Hutson will make his NHL debut when the Canadiens take on the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Monday.

"I feel good. I’m just really excited. The guys here have been great and I'm just ready to get going,” Hutson said following morning skate. “It’s pretty surreal, honestly. Just being here and being with this group is really cool and I’m just really excited.”

Hutson follows Cole Caufield (2021), Jordan Harris (2022) and Sean Farrell (2023) as the fourth Hab in the last four seasons to sign out of college and make their NHL debut that same year.

The announcement came from head coach Martin St-Louis following Monday’s morning skate. Jayden Struble will come out of the lineup in favor of Hutson. The Habs’ bench boss also confirmed Samuel Montembeault as the team’s starter in Detroit. No other lineup changes are expected. 

“We’ll give him a couple of games here, get his feet wet, see how we do things here, and get to know some of the guys. It’s a good opportunity for him,” St-Louis told reporters. “

Here’s the projected lineup against the Wings:

Tanner Pearson, Colin White and Jayden Struble rotated as extras during line drills.

Kaiden Guhle practiced with the team this morning, but the defenseman is not yet ready to return from an upper-body injury suffered on Apr. 4.

The Habs’ final road game of the season gets underway at 7:00 p.m. ET.