Lane Hutson Burgeoning Star Watch

[Breakfast of Champs]

Luke's offensive upside is also sky high. His counting stats are lower due to (1) terrible 5v5 puck luck and (2) not playing PP1 because they want a shooting QB (Hamilton).

His on ice xGF at 5v5 is 32.7 vs only 20 actual goals for, to give you an indication of his puck luck this year. If you adjust for that and the PP duties, he's probably closer to 30-33 points instead of 18.

I mean yeah he is very good offensively but we're kidding ourselves if we don't say Lane is a better offensive talent. The kid is absolutely magic and one of the most talented players offensively I've ever seen from the back end.

No slight to L hughes offensive talent, and he is certainly more well rounded. But Lane has more offensive upside

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

How does his brother's game compare to Lane's? How are they different, similar, etc?

I'd say Cole is more comfortable taking shots vs always looking for a pass, but Lane's puck skills and vision are better.

I think Cole has the smoother skating form but doesn't have the escapability of Lane. He's also more raw both offensively and defensively.

 

[jfhabs]

How does his brother's game compare to Lane's? How are they different, similar, etc?

I haven't seen a ton, but his brother plays a more linear game. Lane is all around, making head fakes and using his edge work a lot more.

I'd say Cole has a better shot and better backward skater. Lane has better IQ (elite), hands and edge work. Both compete very well for their size, Cole looks a bit bigger.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

How does his brother's game compare to Lane's? How are they different, similar, etc?

 

[dgibb10]

Paging @dgibb10 .....
tell me how Hutson would be in the AHL if he were a Devil, since he's outscoring every Devils dman as a rookie?

Hutson's october was pretty brutal which would have gotten him sent down back then once Luke-Pesce came back. Which would have been unfortunate since he's been excellent since then.

And no NJD dman has been injured since then leaving no opportunity to try again.

And even now, while he 100% CLEARS Dillon, they play completely different roles and Dillon's PK impact is needed on the roster.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Imagine having a team so powerful there is no room for Lane Hutson on it

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I mean yeah he is very good offensively but we're kidding ourselves if we don't say Lane is a better offensive talent. The kid is absolutely magic and one of the most talented players offensively I've ever seen from the back end.

No slight to L hughes offensive talent, and he is certainly more well rounded. But Lane has more offensive upside

Yeah I agree, but I don't think he'll be so far ahead of Hughes to make up for the gap in other areas.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

A lot of bad takes because

1. Most posters don't actually watch games of other teams. They pretend they do, but they don't. So when they talk about Lane Hutson, they are talking about an imaginary player that exists solely in their head.
2. Their opinions are formed by stat sheets and lazy narratives based on a player's physical proportions and attributes. "Oh, he's small and is offensive, he must be Marc-Andre Bergeron." Complete lack of nuance.
3. They make their judgments based on the team the player plays for instead of what they actually do on the ice.

There were many habs fans skeptical that his game would translate to the big leagues. We were super hopeful, but we had a healthy skepticism. Then he played those two games against the Red Wings at the end of last season and it was 100% clear that this was a special kid. It reminded me of when the habs called up Subban against the flyers in 2009, and it was apparent that the game would translate.

It's a shame because a lot of posters are missing out on a special player.

Yes, that's exactly why you need to watch the players and stop relying on 'advanced stats'. The defensive issues early on from Hutson were not him being lost on ice, it was him trying to figure out his boundaries by playing against NHL players. That's what high IQ players do, they adapt their game to what is in front of them. Hutson will always be smaller but he still can be effective defensively with his positioning, anticipation and compete and the good news is that he has it all. He is not a Ty Smith or a Gostisbehere it's quite obvious he will play a lot of minutes like a Quinn Hughes or Adam Fox. He is now figuring it out how to adapt his game to the NHL speed. And no, he would not have been able to adapt like that if he played in the AHL. Nobody would say for instance that Michkov or Celebrini should play in the AHL, they will make mistake, it's a learning experience for every young players.
Anyway, glad the Habs might have stole their next franchise defenseman.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Now that the dust has settled, where does he end up on the all-time rankings?

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Yeah I agree, but I don't think he'll be so far ahead of Hughes to make up for the gap in other areas.

I think it'll be sort of a Hughes vs Heiskanen thing (from a few years back before Quinn went super saiyan) where one is definitely better offensively but the other's natural athleticism makes up those gaps defensively.

 

[dgibb10]

Imagine having a team so powerful there is no room for Lane Hutson on it

Hutson start=bad

Hutson since=very good

Unfortunately that 1st one would have been his audition, since Luke and Pesce came back on october 24th. It's not fair to give a guy such a short audition period, but that was the reaity of the situation in NJD. Same thing happened to Casey and Nemec.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Hutson start=bad
View attachment 961470

Hutson since=very good
View attachment 961471

Unfortunately that 1st one would have been his audition, since Luke and Pesce came back on october 24th. It's not fair to give a guy such a short audition period, but that was the reaity of the situation in NJD. Same thing happened to Casey and Nemec.

More half truths. Devils didn't have a spot to give Hutson this year because they didn't have a hutson type in the system to make room for.

You guys are still hanging on to the idea that him and seamus casey are similar type prospects, which just isn't true.

 

[dgibb10]

More half truths. Devils didn't have a spot to give Hutson this year because they didn't have a hutson type in the system to make room for.

You guys are still hanging on to the idea that him and seamus casey are similar type prospects, which just isn't true.

NJD had a 2nd overall pick who played 60 NHL games at a high level last year.

He struggled in the short audition, and so he was sent down because other dmen were playing better.

Hutson was very bad to start the year. And so he would have been sent down to get a bunch of minutes in the AHL.

Does that make what he's done since then not impressive? No.

That's simply the reality of the situation in NJD. There was a brief audition period for 1 roster spot in NJD after Pesce, Hamilton, Siegs, Hughes, Dillon in NJD while Luke and Pesce were hurt. Kovacevic dominated, the high pedigree kids did not. And so Kovy won the job.

You seem to be under the impression that Hutson would have been guaranteed a spot regardless of performance for some reason

 

[Sasha Orlov]

NJD had a 2nd overall pick who played 60 NHL games at a high level last year.

He struggled in the short audition, and so he was sent down because other dmen were playing better.

Hutson was very bad to start the year. And so he would have been sent down to get a bunch of minutes in the AHL.

Does that make what he's done since then not impressive? No.

That's simply the reality of the situation in NJD. There was a brief audition period for 1 roster spot in NJD after Pesce, Hamilton, Siegs, Hughes, Dillon in NJD while Luke and Pesce were hurt. Kovacevic dominated, the high pedigree kids did not. And so Kovy won the job.

You seem to be under the impression that Hutson would have been guaranteed a spot regardless of performance for some reason

Everyone knows you didn’t watch him play because this is not even close to true, but by all means keep posting the same thing over and over

 

[Voight]

He's 3rd best in the league.

Makar
Hughes
Hutson

He's already reached super star status as a rookie.

The Kool aid must be pretty strong.

 

[dgibb10]

Everyone knows you didn’t watch him play because this is not even close to true, but by all means keep posting the same thing over and over

His defense was utterly atrocious as he kept getting caught in terrible positions, and he was trying to do everything himself offensively stifling the flow of offense, leading to terrible results as he simply tried to do far too much.

And I was told that it was "impossible to get decent results on a bad team"

And then he, checks notes, started picking his spots better, getting caught out of position less, and actually playing within an offense and, checks notes, his results became massively better, exactly like I said they would and could.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Everyone knows you didn’t watch him play because this is not even close to true, but by all means keep posting the same thing over and over

"Hutson was very bad to start the year" is all you needed to read , why would he have to watch a second of hockey when he can pull out the spreadsheet and come here and post it as gospel

 

[Frank Drebin]

NJD had a 2nd overall pick who played 60 NHL games at a high level last year.

He struggled in the short audition, and so he was sent down because other dmen were playing better.

Hutson was very bad to start the year. And so he would have been sent down to get a bunch of minutes in the AHL.

Does that make what he's done since then not impressive? No.

That's simply the reality of the situation in NJD. There was a brief audition period for 1 roster spot in NJD after Pesce, Hamilton, Siegs, Hughes, Dillon in NJD while Luke and Pesce were hurt. Kovacevic dominated, the high pedigree kids did not. And so Kovy won the job.

You seem to be under the impression that Hutson would have been guaranteed a spot regardless of performance for some reason

Its entirely possible that Hutson gets the Nemec treatment in NJD. Difference is Hutson would be absolutely torching the AHL to the point that devils management would be fools to not put him in at the very first opportunity. And then at that point he would never leave their roster again.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

His defense was utterly atrocious as he kept getting caught in terrible positions, and he was trying to do everything himself offensively stifling the flow of offense, leading to terrible results as he simply tried to do far too much.

And I was told that it was "impossible to get decent results on a bad team"

And then he, checks notes, started picking his spots better, getting caught out of position less, and actually playing within an offense and, checks notes, his results became massively better, exactly like I said they would and could.

You realize some of us actually watch every game, right?

 

[dgibb10]

Its entirely possible that Hutson gets the Nemec treatment in NJD. Difference is Hutson would be absolutely torching the AHL to the point that devils management would be fools to not put him in at the very first opportunity. And then at that point he would never leave their roster again.

I agree. His play since then has been STELLAR. And if someone got hurt and he got a call up I believe he'd make it impossible to send him back down based on his recent play.

But again, as I said, there has not been an opportunity to bring anyone up. Every dman has stayed healthy since then.

(Seamus Casey is at like a PPG in the AHL btw)

You realize some of us actually watch every game, right?

Yeah, and you were all so enamoured by the cool plays that you didn't notice every time he got caught in a bad spot leading to a great chance for the other team, or the fact that he basically NEVER was making the simple play to keep the offense flowing early in the year.

I'm sure MTL getting f***ing throttled with him on the ice was just a silly little coincidence tho.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Yeah, and you were all so enamoured by the cool plays that you didn't notice every time he got caught in a bad spot leading to a great chance for the other team, or the fact that he basically NEVER was making the simple play to keep the offense flowing early in the year.

I'm sure MTL getting f***ing throttled with him on the ice was just a silly little coincidence tho.

Maybe NJD had a better partner for him for the first 9 games than David Savard too.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Yeah, and you were all so enamoured by the cool plays that you didn't notice every time he got caught in a bad spot leading to a great chance for the other team, or the fact that he basically NEVER was making the simple play to keep the offense flowing early in the year.

I'm sure MTL getting f***ing throttled with him on the ice was just a silly little coincidence tho.

Right, they were dead last in every defensive metric because of one player lmfao

So everyone who watched is wrong except you, makes me wonder why you’re posting on here instead of working in an NHL front office tbh

 

[dgibb10]

Maybe NJD had a better partner for him for the first 9 games than David Savard too.

It would have been him and Nemec who also struggled mightily in that stretch.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Whatever weird statistics that suggested that Hutson wasn’t good at creating team offense at the beginning of the year also suggested that xhejac and struble were montreals best at it

Id look at that for one second and then discard it

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Whatever weird statistics that suggested that Hutson wasn’t good at creating team offense at the beginning of the year also suggested that xhejac and struble were montreals best at it

Id look at that for one second and then discard it

Careful! You’re gonna get slapped with a spreadsheet