Prospect Info: [2022 - 62nd] Lane Hutson (NCAA - Boston University)

[montreal]

That's an exhibition game, i think.

correct, so the stats don't count for anyone that isn't aware. The same thing will happen when the Bean Pot starts up in Feb.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

I don't know why some have major concerns about him and his size. The history have prove with the time that kind of defenseman : undersized, gifted offensively with a high hockey sense, more truth than ever in the new NHL, can survive in this league and he has a lot of time to grow before thinking to play at the highest level.

Jared Spurgeon 5'9" - 166 lb - Full time NHL at 20 years + 10 months
Samuel Girard 5'10" - 170 lb - Full time NHL at 19 years + 5 months
Torey Krug 5'9" - 194 lb - Full time NHL at 22 years + 6 months
Quinn Hughes 5'10" - 180 lb - Full time NHL at 20 years
Cale Makar 5'11" - 187 lb - Full time NHL at 20 years + 11 months
Adam Fox 5'11" - 182 lb - Full time NHL at 21 years + 8 months

In that list only Krug bring a physical element to his game like Frankie Bouillon did at the time; build like a tank. I have 40 years old and I never see that kind of skill on the offensive side from a defenseman prospect with the habs; honorable mention to Schneider and Subban!

The most effective defenseman over the time like Lidstrom, Niedermayer and Markov didn't really use their shoulders but their hockey sense to play the puck on the defensive side; they played the game like a chess game.

Andrei Markov 6'0" - 200 lb - 476 hits in 990 games
Nicklas Lidstrom 6'1" - 192 lb - 264 hits in 1564 games
Scott Niedermayer 6'1" - 194 lb - 284 hits in 1264 games

He will not become one of this guys but I trying to demonstrate how, if you have a hockey sense better than average, you don't need necessary to try demolish players on the boards with yours shoulders and simply use the advantage to be a better hockey player.

In my opinion, Hutson is the best prospect of the habs and I'm really high on Beck, even before the camp, but this guy will change the way we played the game and will give us a powerplay specialist for the next decade. I simply don't see how this guy can't do is magic at the NHL level, I know his skating can be better bur for me is a you can't miss prospect!

The Kraken miss this guy not 1 time, not 2, not 3 but 4 freakin time in the 2nd round of the draft. Their scouting departement need some kick in the ass and a headshake! I still don't know how player like Gaudreau, Farrell, Caufield, Hutson drop like that at the draft because the only concern is their size but for godsake we play hockey here and when you found one who can play with the puck give this guy a chance whatever his size! I will never understand the way they see and they draft!

Like MSL, Desharnais, Bouillon, Fleury etc... he got the "fire" to prove everyone their are wrong about his size and the capacity to play in the NHL and I will never bet against a guy like that who need to fight at every level to gain his place because he will never give up until he achieve what he wanted. Simoneau seem a guy like that in a lesser extent and do a lot better than what he suppose to do because of this kind of determination!

The concern with his size has nothing to do with throwing hits. It has everything to do with being too weak to keep forwards boxed out, fight for loose pucks in the crease, board battles and close outs where he needs to be sturdy enough to push attacking forwards to the boards without getting run over. Every small dman you listed is bigger, stronger and faster than Hutson to varying degrees. Each one of them are also much better back skaters.

Hutson is a good prospect but he is very unique and is currently a whole different type of small than any dman that has made it in the NHL in decades.

As for Seattle, the consensus was that they had a great 2nd round with Firkus, Nyman and Goyette. I can't speak to Kokko as he is a goaltender but to arbitrarily dismiss the other three in favour of Hutson seems to be a hyper-biased comparison.

I agree with your last paragraph as the kid is a fierce competitor but we should treat him as a very unique prospect with a unique development curve as he is very dissimilar in too many ways from the dmen that you mentioned.

 

[Alexandre Magny]

Le souci de sa taille n'a rien à voir avec le fait de lancer des coups. Cela a tout à voir avec le fait d'être trop faible pour garder les attaquants en boîte, se battre pour les rondelles lâches dans le pli, les batailles de planches et les fermetures où il doit être suffisamment solide pour pousser l'attaque vers les planches sans se faire écraser. Chaque petit dman que vous avez énuméré est plus gros, plus fort et plus rapide que Hutson à des degrés divers. Chacun d'entre eux sont également de bien meilleurs patineurs arrière.

Hutson est une bonne perspective, mais il est très unique et est actuellement un tout autre type de petit que n'importe quel dman qui a réussi dans la LNH depuis des décennies.

As for Seattle, the consensus was that they had a great 2nd round with Firkus, Nyman and Goyette. I can't speak to Kokko as he is a goaltender but to arbitrarily dismiss the other three in favour of Hutson seems to be a hyper-biased comparison.

I agree with your last paragraph as the kid is a fierce competitor but we should treat him as a very unique prospect with a unique development curve as he is very dissimilar in too many ways from the dmen that you mentioned.

Ça s'améliore un patin Arrière , Adam Nicholas est là pour ça et anyway je l'ai jamais vu avoir l'air fou au précamp du ch défensivement le jeune est intelligent , il a les mains et la vision pour jouer LNH , il ne jouera pas cette année ni la prochaine mais on s'en reparle dans 3 ou 4 ans pour le fun.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Ça s'améliore un patin Arrière , Adam Nicholas est là pour ça et anyway je l'ai jamais vu avoir l'air fou au précamp du ch défensivement le jeune est intelligent , il a les mains et la vision pour jouer LNH , il ne jouera pas cette année ni la prochaine mais on s'en reparle dans 3 ou 4 ans pour le fun.

Agreed, 3-4 years is more reasonable.

 

[Matthew McConaughay]

I agree with your last paragraph as the kid is a fierce competitor but we should treat him as a very unique prospect with a unique development curve as he is very dissimilar in too many ways from the dmen that you mentioned.

The Habs are good at finding those special players, Xhekaj is a great example, what team wouldn't want Xhekaj ? never drafted by the OHL and the NHL.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

The Habs are good at finding those special players, Xhekaj is a great example, what team wouldn't want Xhekaj ? never drafted by the OHL and the NHL.

Funny, 20 games into the season (after Suzuki, Caufield, Guhle and Slafkovsky) Xhekaj, because of his size, age, contract, on ice performance and physical presence, is probably one of our most marketable assets. As I said, funny how things work out.

 

[cphabs]

If you are small you better be able to skate.

And/or? Drop the f***ing hammer when questioned about size. Fantastic stuff.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Thats a useless and bad thread to make. Its ncaa and only 12 games in. The only thing this thread does is make people dislike habs fans.

I think the penchant of some segments of the team's fanbase to engage in derisive singing is a greater cause of that dislike.

 

[admiralcadillac]

Pair him with Xhekaj and he’ll be fine. Not worried about his size if he’s dominating the NCAA

 

[Matthew McConaughay]

Pair him with Xhekaj and he’ll be fine. Not worried about his size if he’s dominating the NCAA

Perfect fit.

 

[CHwest]

And/or? Drop the f***ing hammer when questioned about size. Fantastic stuff.

There are hunters out there, better be able to avoid them.

 

[LaP]

There are hunters out there, better be able to avoid them.

First 10 seconds of that video are poetic.

 

[cphabs]

There are hunters out there, better be able to avoid them.

Agreed and thanks

 

[26Mats]

Pair him with Xhekaj and he’ll be fine. Not worried about his size if he’s dominating the NCAA

I haven't watched him or heard reports about him in his own end.

Is he dominating the NCAA in his own end? Because that's the area of concern, not what he'll be capable of doing in the o-zone.

 

[StCaufield]

As of now he seems like a Marc-Andre Bergeron lol but he has lots of time to change that

 

[admiralcadillac]

As of now he seems like a Marc-Andre Bergeron lol but he has lots of time to change that

He looks absolutely nothing like Bergeron lol

I haven't watched him or heard reports about him in his own end.

Is he dominating the NCAA in his own end? Because that's the area of concern, not what he'll be capable of doing in the o-zone.

Does he need to?

 

[26Mats]

He looks absolutely nothing like Bergeron lol


Does he need to?

You said he'll be fine in the NHL. I'm asking on what basis of what he's doing in the NCAA are you concluding he'll be fine in his own end in the NHL?

And to answer your question, yes he needs to be able to be good in his own end in the NHL in order to be able to play defense in the NHL.

 

[admiralcadillac]

You said he'll be fine in the NHL. I'm asking on what basis of what he's doing in the NCAA are you concluding he'll be fine in his own end in the NHL?

And to answer your question, yes he needs to be able to be good in his own end in the NHL in order to be able to play defense in the NHL.

I didn’t say he’d be fine in his own end I said I’m not worried about his size if he’s dominating in the NCAA - did you mean to quote another poster?

 

[LaP]

As of now he seems like a Marc-Andre Bergeron lol but he has lots of time to change that

The problem with MAB is he had a shot and nothing else. As an offensive dman he was a below average playmaker and offensively it's the primary role of a dman at 5v5. Had MB been a good playmaker he would have had a career. The playmaking ability of MAB was on par with good two way dmen and he was not a two way guy.

 

[26Mats]

I didn’t say he’d be fine in his own end I said I’m not worried about his size if he’s dominating in the NCAA - did you mean to quote another poster?

No I didn't mean to quote another poster.

My question is how are you not worried about about his size, in the sense that: what makes you think he'll be fine in the NHL in his own end, given his size, even if he's dominating the NCAA?

 

[SlafySZN]

No I didn't mean to quote another poster.

My question is how are you not worried about about his size, in the sense that: what makes you think he'll be fine in the NHL in his own end, given his size?

He has time to get better on many aspects before he get to the NHL… as a player in general.

He’s better defensively than Quinn Hughes was at the same age.

 

[admiralcadillac]

No I didn't mean to quote another poster.

My question is how are you not worried about about his size, in the sense that: what makes you think he'll be fine in the NHL in his own end, given his size, even if he's dominating the NCAA?

Why do you think he needs to dominate in his own end to become a useful player given his talents?

 

[habsfan891]

He has time to get better on many aspects before he get to the NHL… as a player in general.

He’s better defensively than Quinn Hughes was at the same age.

I bet he's close to better defensively than Hughes is now who might as well be a forward

 

[26Mats]

I just asked you why you think he needs to dominate in his own end to become a useful player given his talents?

I think he needs to show he can defend at the NHL level in order to be able to have a spot in the starting 6 of a blue line. If you have any questions about that statement, ask away.

You said you have no worries about his size because he's dominating innthe NCAA. So I ask you, what about what he's doing in the NCAA makes you think he can defend in the NHL, and thus there is nothing to worry about regarding his size?

 

[admiralcadillac]

I think he needs to show he can defend at the NHL level in order to be able to have a spot in the starting 6 of a blue line. If you have any questions about that statement, ask away.

You said you have no worries about his size because he's dominating innthe NCAA. So I ask you, what about what he's doing in the NCAA makes you think he can defend in the NHL, and thus there is nothing to worry about regarding his size?

I think you’re moving goalposts so I’ll leave it at that. If you’re worried about his defensive game present an argument relative to his play not his size.