Around the League Thread | Holiday Season!

[credulous]

Hutson is going to be a star and I've never understood the criticism of him that has been in the air since the season began. He's 20 and probably about 150 pounds, he'll need some time to adjust. He's not quite the skater Quinn Hughes is but he's even more aggressive with the puck on his stick and looks like he can recover his positioning well against NHL forwards. A defence with 3 or 4 Quinn Hugheses and 3 or 4 Lane Hutsons would probably win the cup every year.

anyone who watched more than 5 minutes of him in bu knew he was going to be a special player offensively. he might end up a 4th forward style defender who needs to be sheltered and may not be a great player because of it but he'll always produce points

 

[thecupismine]

How often have you watched Hutson? I see a player with vision and imagination that will make him special much like Hughes is. I would pretty much bet everything I have that he'll be a lot better and a fundamentally different than Tyson Barrie.

I’m not questioning his offensive upside at all - it’s why I said souped up Tyson Barrie. That’s a number 1 PP QB who can score at a PPG level, which would be a top 5 scoring dman in the league and a phenomenal outcome for 99% of draft picks.

What I’m saying is expecting him to be an elite #1 dman who’s also defensively sound is suspect given his size, given it’s only happened to one guy in NHL history. You need to be world class with your awareness, stick work and angles to compensate for that lack of size, as you will get boxed out and out muscled in front of the net and in the corners.

It’s just unreasonable for fans to see the success Hughes has had, and to start comparing every high scoring, small dman to him given how much of an outlier he is on the defensive side of the puck.

 

[VanillaCoke]

Hutson is going to be a star and I've never understood the criticism of him that has been in the air since the season began. He's 20 and probably about 150 pounds, he'll need some time to adjust. He's not quite the skater Quinn Hughes is but he's even more aggressive with the puck on his stick and looks like he can recover his positioning well against NHL forwards. A defence with 3 or 4 Quinn Hugheses and 3 or 4 Lane Hutsons would probably win the cup every year.

Big agree, I don't see the criticisms others do and I question if they're actually watching the games or just the stats.
His Defense isn't a problem at all, he's just getting out muscled like every small Defenseman, he'll only get stronger and adjust better moving forward.
His iq, positioning, awareness and recovery effort/ability is strong.
And really both his offense and defense should be better, he takes minuses from other players mistakes and just generally being on a bad team with no system, and his offensive abilities are often thwarted by his teammates inability to finish.

He's going to be Quinn Hughes Lite just a matter of time.

 

[credulous]

Big agree, I don't see the criticisms others do and I question if they're actually watching the games or just the stats.
His Defense isn't a problem at all, he's just getting out muscled like every small Defenseman, he'll only get stronger and adjust better moving forward.
And really both his offense and defense should be better, he takes minuses from other players mistakes and just generally being on a bad team with no system, and his offensive abilities are often thwarted by his teammates inability to finish.

He's going to be Quinn Hughes Lite just a matter of time.

he's nothing like hughes beyond the size imo

hughes has elite skating and gets around the ice great. hutson isn't nearly as good a skater but his puck protection is elite. he's so slippery and he generates scoring chances from passes no other player would attempt

the only player i can think of that's even somewhat similar is brandt clarke but i think hutson is better

 

[StreetHawk]

anyone who watched more than 5 minutes of him in bu knew he was going to be a special player offensively. he might end up a 4th forward style defender who needs to be sheltered and may not be a great player because of it but he'll always produce points

They would need Reinbacher to hit as expected to be that big minute muncher on the Right Side to be his partner. If not him, Mailloux doesn't project to be that type of guy. Neither is Barron and he hasn't taken a step this season (lost games due to the concussion he got on the hit from Trouba).

Or they have to ask Guhle to slide to the right side and do that. Think he's been asked to slide to the right side this season as they don't have enough RHD. Just Savard and Barron.

 

[credulous]

They would need Reinbacher to hit as expected to be that big minute muncher on the Right Side to be his partner. If not him, Mailloux doesn't project to be that type of guy. Neither is Barron and he hasn't taken a step this season (lost games due to the concussion he got on the hit from Trouba).

Or they have to ask Guhle to slide to the right side and do that. Think he's been asked to slide to the right side this season as they don't have enough RHD. Just Savard and Barron.

the huge advantage to having hutson is that he's so puck dominant (and so hard to win back the puck from) that you can pair him with anyone who is decent at retrievals and who can put themselves in position to receive passes. he's a lot like hughes in the sense that he can elevate nearly any partner

just keep him out of his own end and profit

 

[MS]

he's nothing like hughes beyond the size imo

hughes has elite skating and gets around the ice great. hutson isn't nearly as good a skater but his puck protection is elite. he's so slippery and he generates scoring chances from passes no other player would attempt

the only player i can think of that's even somewhat similar is brandt clarke but i think hutson is better

Hughes, even as a young player who was bad defensively because he was small and weak, was still a player with structure to his game. He generally did the right things, was in the right places.

Hutson is a total freelancer. Some of the things he does with the puck on his stick are Hughes-esque and he'll probably put up some 70 or 80 point seasons in the NHL but defensively he isn't on the same planet, and I doubt he ever will be. And yeah, his skating isn't as good as Hughes.