On Thursday night, Montreal Canadiens head coach shook up his top 2 defensive pairings by putting Noah Dobson with Lane Hutson, while Kaiden Guhle and Mike Matheson formed the other duo. It turned out to be a very smart move, as Hutson and Dobson were great at creating offence together from the back end, including a set play that resulted in the game’s first goal on their first shift of the night. With that being said, could an offence-oriented pairing of Hutson and Dobson work together for the long term?
Do the #GoHabsGo still need to acquire a partner for Lane Hutson?@TonyMarinaro: “The pairing of Dobson and Hutson, for those who weren’t convinced, it works!”#thesickpodcast pic.twitter.com/A8fbDosp9U
— The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) January 30, 2026
We have seen Hutson and Dobson play together before last night in situations where the Canadiens are in need of a goal late in games, but Thursday night was one of the first times we saw them start a game together. As exciting as the goal that they connected on was, it was really that they were put in the perfect situation to make it happen.
First off, they came on the ice with an offensive faceoff at the right side of the ice, which is centre Oliver Kapanen’s strong side, giving him a better chance of winning the draw back to Hutson or Dobson. This allowed them to prepare to create a good scoring chance by lining up on their opposite sides so that Dobson could be put in the perfect position to get a good shot off, while Hutson could also open himself up for a shot when needed.
Hutson ⏩ Dobson less than a minute in pic.twitter.com/7wPV9JgtIC
— Spittin’ Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) January 30, 2026
Once Kapanen won the faceoff, he was helped by his winger, Juraj Slafkovsky, to ensure the puck got to Hutson easily. Since this season Hutson is now a threat to shoot from the slot; more attention has been brought towards him, and as a result, it allowed more space for Dobson to get into a spot for a prime scoring opportunity, which is how he was left alone at the other faceoff circle. To make this happen, Hutson also faked a slot shot before getting the puck to Dobson, who would fire a one-timer from near the faceoff dot to give the Habs an early lead 56 seconds into the game.
dobson and hutson together play like a 20 million dollar pairing. i wanna see this more
— magic man (@playoffsuzuki) January 30, 2026
As you can see with the goal that Dobson scored, it was helped a lot by being in the perfect situation to allow both him and Hutson to each utilize their best offensive skills. The fact is their respective skills complement each other very well, which is why pairing them together works so well when offence is needed. They have done it before, but seeing over a full game was special to see.
However, on the other side of things, they are showing that they can also be very effective on their own end. The duo of Hutson and Dobson have played 154.8 minutes together at various points of games during the season, where they show that they are a dominant 2-way duo. While neither of them are known to be very physical, they managed to do a good job at getting the puck out of the zone and pushing offence. They may not bring the traditional physical type of defence, but they do have skills to be very effective in their own zone. Although when those two are on the ice, the play usually is in the offensive zone, so this really is a case of the best defence being a good offence.
The Habs should definitely keep Hutson and Dobson together. The great offense makes a good defense is exactly what they are doing. pic.twitter.com/gZRC7V5pQK
— Nick (@NickL2500) January 31, 2026
With just how dominant these two players can be together, it’s something that the Canadiens should consider using for the long term. They won’t be a perfect pairing at both ends, as one error in the offensive zone could lead to odd-man rushes. However, the risk is worth the reward given that they are decent enough defensively to fix their mistakes.
What are your thoughts on the Hutson-Dobson pairing?
