Needless to say, the Habs have a very promising core of young players, especially among defensemen. But we'll have to wait a little longer to see them in action. Lane Hutson, David Reinbacher, Logan Mailloux and company should all be ready in a year's time, and that's when Kent Hughes will have some important decisions to make. Without a doubt, the CH's best defenseman to date is Michael Matheson, and he proved it last year. According to Arpon Basu, he could well be sacrificed for the 2024-25 season, along with David Savard, to make room for the youngsters. The 2024-25 trade deadline looks very interesting. If David Savard is still around, he'll more than likely be available as a rental player, and Mike Matheson will have another year left on his contract, making him an attractive market value with a very affordable contract. It certainly takes veterans to help the youngsters, and Matheson plays that leadership role perfectly. We'll see what decisions Hughes makes when we get there, but it'll be a happy problem, that's for sure, because there will be too many defenders. <blockquote class=twitter-tweet><p lang=en dir=ltr>Canadiens mailbag part one, on expectations for Slaf, managing the prospect pool and more. Part two comes out later this week. <a href=https://t.co/zAR7EHMd8i>https://t.co/zAR7EHMd8i</a>- Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) <a href=https://twitter.com/ArponBasu/status/1686045982197161984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>July 31, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js charset=utf-8>