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. <q>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.</q> 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>