Lane Hutson Burgeoning Star Watch

[Xirik]

Don't mind the people bringing those stats up. You can't judge him based on stats this early on in his career and on a bottom feeder team.

Just watch a few games of Hutson in the future and focus on him. There's not many players in the league who play like he does, especially on D. He creates a lot of offensive chances. There's no way that anyone who isn't already incredibly biased against him would deny that he's special after an eye test.

I can only imagine him on a high-octane team.

He's special but players get scouted and the opponents adapt. If he truly is a special player he will try to add more to his game over the course of his development so he won't be easily shutdown when he becomes a "known Quantity"

Small players have to work harder to stay in the league and it seems like Hutson is a guy that wants to work so the future is pretty good.

 

[Fatass]

No one is using his teammates as an excuse. The entirety of the top 6 right now is either injured (Laine) or has an xGF% of 30 or less. The only three players so far who have played well are Hutson, Guhle and Montembeault. This isn't an excuse, it's a fact.

It is not that Hutson has bad teammates, it's simply that the players that are supposed to carry this team are currently all playing very, very bad hockey are all at the same time.

As for Casey, I haven't seen any of of games yet so I can't say but I heard he's been pretty good. What's not playing in his favor is NJ already has 2 Offensive dynamo in Hamilton and Hughes. Montreal doesn't have anyone with the offensive capabilities that Hutson has.


Habs management and even MSL have said multiple times that they want to take a step forward this year. MSL even before the beginning of the season that they will be much more focused on the D and the margin for error will be thinner. They expect(ed) to be at least in the mix for a playoff spot this year.

Could St. Louis be on the outs if the club continues to do so poorly defensively?

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Could St. Louis be on the outs if the club continues to do so poorly defensively?

Not sure , they will probably try to bring in some new tactical help on the bench before thinking about canning him , I think he gets carte blanche this season. Its a long season things can change. The team is also extremely young especially on the blue line

 

[Zalos]

He's special but players get scouted and the opponents adapt. If he truly is a special player he will try to add more to his game over the course of his development so he won't be easily shutdown when he becomes a "known Quantity"

Small players have to work harder to stay in the league and it seems like Hutson is a guy that wants to work so the future is pretty good.

Sure. I expect that eventually the opposing players will not even push him on the PP and will just let him skate around.

There are two elements to his game that I hope he improves: his shot and his backward skating.

 

[WTG]

I'm a huge fan of Quinn, but his first year, he was paired with Chris Tanev- one of the best defensive defenseman in the league. His on ice numbers dropped big time the year after when Tanev left.

He's a very good defensive player now as he's continued to develop, but those numbers his rookie year were heavily inflated by his partner. Lane doesn't have anyone close to that level to insulate him and comparing their flat numbers isn't fair at all.

Even if I grant you that Hughes defensive numbers are inflated to such an extent. The turn around in Hughes' defensive game was atypical. It's really rare to see someone improve that drastically in their defensive game over the course of a few seasons.

That being the expectation for Hutson is not fair to Hutson.

I'm not the biggest fan of +/- but to go from -24 in 2021-22 to +38 in 2023-24 is pretty damn remarkable. That's to say that Hughes is an outlier not the rule.

 

[mphmiles]

Even if I grant you that Hughes defensive numbers are inflated to such an extent. The turn around in Hughes' defensive game was atypical. It's really rare to see someone improve that drastically in their defensive game over the course of a few seasons.

That being the expectation for Hutson is not fair to Hutson.

I'm not the biggest fan of +/- but to go from -24 in 2021-22 to +38 in 2023-24 is pretty damn remarkable. That's to say that Hughes is an outlier not the rule.

I don't disagree with that assertion at all. I think even Quinn's most staunch supporters wouldn't have thought he'd become as good as he has in his own end.

What I will say, though, is that with Hutson's game, he doesn't have to be great defensively to be a really effective player. He just has to get to decent.

 

[dgibb10]

I don't disagree with that assertion at all. I think even Quinn's most staunch supporters wouldn't have thought he'd become as good as he has in his own end.

What I will say, though, is that with Hutson's game, he doesn't have to be great defensively to be a really effective player. He just has to get to decent.

I think becoming decent defensively at the NHL level is a bigger ask than some seem to think.

 

[Baksfamous112]

Could St. Louis be on the outs if the club continues to do so poorly defensively?

No chance

 

[HockeyGuruPitka]

I feel like a good comp for Hutson is Jake Gardiner. he's poised for a great career, but stardom is always difficult

 

[vHAB]

A comparison to Jake Gardiner now! this thread is gonna be fun to read in a couple years

 

[Baksfamous112]

A comparison to Jake Gardiner now! this thread is gonna be fun to read in a couple years

Lol we’ve seen it all. Some people wants the Habs to fail so badly that they throw out weird comparisons now

 

[vHAB]

Lol we’ve seen it all. Some people wants the Habs to fail so badly that they throw out weird comparisons now

Yeah, and then act like we're too dumb to know a backhanded compliment when we see one lol.

 

[Baksfamous112]

But he should be in the AHL developing

https://x.com/i/web/status/1847667349182148675

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

But he should be in the AHL developing

https://x.com/i/web/status/1847667349182148675

Quite the compliment. Unfortunately he doesn't have Makar's shot, and we don't have a Mackinnon to call game whenever he feels like it.

 

[The Great Weal]

I love how Habs fans response to any criticism is " (team name) fans are just salty"

What are these criticisms exactly? Habs fans are saying he looks phenomenal and has been the best player on the team so far while the "critics" are saying all he does are head fakes and his +/- is trash which means he sucks.

I'm missing the rational high IQ criticism from the critics because they are just blatantly wrong.

The only real criticism that could be brought up is his shot because it hasn't really been a threat.

 

[Frank Drebin]

I love how Habs fans response to any criticism is " (team name) fans are just salty"

I rarely use the word but for this thread? Definitely fits.

See below as an example

 

[spintheblackcircle]

It’s very interesting that in the games where he plays the least minutes so far, Montreal does best as a team.

 

[notbias]

Lol we’ve seen it all. Some people wants the Habs to fail so badly that they throw out weird comparisons now

This is reality... no one needs to want it, everyone is living it.

 

[Oscar The Grouch]

It’s very interesting that in the games where he plays the least minutes so far, Montreal does best as a team.

Will be the story of his career...as projected...

 

[Beendair Donedat]

It’s very interesting that in the games where he plays the least minutes so far, Montreal does best as a team.

Thats such a disingenuous statement that it’s hard to know where to start to respond. But I’ll give it the old college try:

1) He’s played SIX GAMES. In his rookie year. There’s not nearly enough games in to form any correlation between time played and team success.

2) The Habs win on opening night, Hutson plays 18:22, Montembeault has a sore back from carrying the team to a 47 save 1-0 shutout, and somehow that means “Montreal does best as a team” I don’t know how anyone could make that claim with a straight face.

3) Are you somehow suggesting that it’s really “very interesting” that NHL rookie defensemen playing more minutes results in an NHL team not being as successful? It’s not, it’s pretty basic common sense. Thats why you don’t see too many rookies playing on NHL Cup contenders.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

This is reality... no one needs to want it, everyone is living it.

Brother your team has won one series in 20 years please don’t talk about failure

 

[wetcoast]

I'm a huge fan of Quinn, but his first year, he was paired with Chris Tanev- one of the best defensive defenseman in the league. His on ice numbers dropped big time the year after when Tanev left.

He's a very good defensive player now as he's continued to develop, but those numbers his rookie year were heavily inflated by his partner. Lane doesn't have anyone close to that level to insulate him and comparing their flat numbers isn't fair at all.

Sure that's fair but exactly how many sub 5'11" elite skating offensive Dman prospects get to the level defensively that Quinn has?

It's extremely unlikely that he hits even 70-90% of the defensive level Hughes has attained.

And that's not a knock on Hutson as I had defensive concerns when Quinn was drafted but his defensive progress is that of a unicorn.

 

[MoneyManny]

Sure that's fair but exactly how many sub 5'11" elite skating offensive Dman prospects get to the level defensively that Quinn has?

It's extremely unlikely that he hits even 70-90% of the defensive level Hughes has attained.

And that's not a knock on Hutson as I had defensive concerns when Quinn was drafted but his defensive progress is that of a unicorn.

After watching the games so far, i don't dislike Hutson defensively. He puts a lot of effort into it and i believe with some more NHL reps he can be where he needs to be on that side of the ice.

I really liked seeing him paired with Mailloux tonight.

 

[ponder]

I have to imagine the people being negative about him haven't actually been watching him play. I'm a Leafs fan, not at all a Habs fan, but I throw on random NHL games all the time while doing other stuff, have caught a number of periods of his play. He's extremely impressive, very clearly so, is shifty as f*** with the puck and cuts through opposing players in a way that you don't see often. I don't see how you could watch this 20 year old kid dance through NHL defences and be like "but he's -1 though."

Is he a finished product? Of course not. But his talent level is really high, and I feel confident he's going to be a star. For now he'll be a mix of high impact plays as well as plenty of mistakes and weaknesses, but within the next few years, I'm confident he'll be very high impact in a positive way, full stop.

He deserves the comparisons to rookie Quinn Hughes, decently similar players IMO. I'd say rookie Hughes was a bit better, but it's close. Both super skilled, smart and shifty, I think Hutson has the slight edge on hands and small area elusiveness, but rookie Hughes had a big edge on skating. Hutson is very slippery but his pure speed is just solid for his size, Hughes had the slipperiness and edgework but also truly elite speed. But overall I think he's not too far off rookie Hughes, which is a huge compliment.

Over the past 30 seasons, the only dmen to hit 50 points as a rookie have been:

• Quinn Hughes: 53 points in 68 games
• Cale Makar: 50 points in 57 games
• Moritz Seider: 50 points in 82 games

If Hutson stays healthy, plays 70+ games, I certainly wouldn't be shocked if he joins them.

 

[wetcoast]

Could St. Louis be on the outs if the club continues to do so poorly defensively?

Depends on how much the organization likes Andrew Brunette as he will be looking for work shortly.