Ever since he's taken the reins over on PP1, he's just been incredible. He leads all dmen in PP assists/60 on the season (>100 PP mins) - and only Werenski has more points than Hutson since early December (when Hutson was really given the reins on PP1).
Before the season started, I told Habs fans that he was already better than Matheson, and that he should be the teams PP1 QB, but many disagreed. Hopefully they've seen the light now:
PP points/60
Hutson: 7.2
Matheson: 4.9
PP on ice GF/60
Hutson: 9.7
Matheson: 5.5
PP on ice xGF/60
Hutson: 8.4
Matheson: 6.0
PP on ice CF/60
Hutson: 101.2
Matheson: 76.40
Had Hutson rightly started the year on PP1, the Habs would probably be in a playoff spot right now. They were in last place in the league before Hutson was given the reins, at 8-13-3 with the 19th best net PP%. Since then, they are 13-5-1, and they've jumped to 10th in net PP% with Hutson on PP1.
His puck management and overall defensive game is improving as well. Now that he's secured the PP1 QB role, he's playing with less "desperation" at 5v5, and he's done a much better job at picking his spots as a result. His underlying 5v5 numbers have been moving in the right direction in the last month or so:
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He's been playing like a true top pairing OFD in his last 15 games, which is just crazy impressive for a rookie dman. It's even more impressive to see his improvement vs his first 10-20 games, where he was getting caved in pretty hard.
He'll always be somewhat of a flawed defensive who Montreal will want to shelter/insulate, but he's proving that he can become more than good enough in his own end. Pairing him with a great skater in Matheson was really smart - a smooth skating shutdown D man would be the perfect partner for him down the line.
It's hard to find a great comparable for him because he's so unique. He'll never be solid defensively like Adam Fox, but they have similar offensive tendencies (though Hutson is more dynamic), but he's shown he should be better defensively than guys like DeAngelo, Gostisbehere, Bouchard, and Hamilton.
Regardless, sky is the limit for this kid. What a great pick by Hughes.