Player Discussion Lane Hutson Part 2

[Lafleurs Guy]

Yeah of all the hating of our management in the past for trying to be the ‘smartest people in the room’, this trade Hutson talk stemming from this over scouting reeks of it.

He put up historic numbers without Celebrini in case we forgot last year already.

And this treating players like stocks, wanting to ‘sell high’ at every turn is frustratingly simplistic uni-dimensional thinking. Hutson was our 4th pick of the draft and has enormous upside. You can absolutely afford to hold on to him and find out for sure. We have plenty of D depth that can absorb the loss. Along with His insane potential, it makes it a no brainer to keep him

Very good chance he and Slaf turn out to be the two best picks in that draft.

 

[jfm133]

High offensive stats with Hutson is a known fact that never meant much. His offensive talent, IQ, vision, skills are known, the main unanswered question remains if he will be able to be strong and fast enough to be a complete D in the NHL. After his last season he would already be with the Habs if he would be above 6'00 stronger, heavier and faster. But he is not. Imagine him in today's game against Dallas. Oh my! It would have been very hard for him to play at that pace and to efficiently face the big forwards Dallas has.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Very good chance he and Slaf turn out to be the two best picks in that draft.

Mesar, Beck and Engstrom too. Franchise changing draft

 

[CHwest]

Very good chance he and Slaf turn out to be the two best picks in that draft.

I'll wait until he at least plays one NHL game before making such a bold prediction.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I'll wait until he at least plays one NHL game before making such a bold prediction.

That’s fine. We won’t know the answer for years.

But the best indicator of future performance is past success. Hutson is breaking records. Highest point total ever. That can’t be ignored.

So… yes. We have to wait and see. But you can’t tell me that Hutson would be going 62nd in a redraft.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Slaf
Caufield Suzuki Hutson
Mailloux

Ylonen
Dach Newhook Roy
Matheson

Or swap Mailloux and Dach.

Mailloux as the QB and Hutson as a shooter / off-wing playmaker makes little sense.

PP1 will be 4F1D, no doubt.

Mailloux’s future on the PP is unit 2. QB or left flank shooter.

 

[Jaynki]

High offensive stats with Hutson is a known fact that never meant much. His offensive talent, IQ, vision, skills are known, the main unanswered question remains if he will be able to be strong and fast enough to be a complete D in the NHL. After his last season he would already be with the Habs if he would be above 6'00 stronger, heavier and faster. But he is not. Imagine him in today's game against Dallas. Oh my! It would have been very hard for him to play at that pace and to efficiently face the big forwards Dallas has.

Exact same discourse we heard with Caufield.

He would not be able to pull his tricks against the big rude nhl D.

Yet here we are today.

Hutson is immensely talented and the ceiling is a megastar.

Lets see how it unfold. Personally i am betting on his talent, not against his weakness.

Just to point how absurd Hutson is offensively.

Caufield had 88 points in 67 NCAA games as an offensive dynamo forward. Hutson is at 83 points in 64 games.

 

[HuGo boss]

Mailloux as the QB and Hutson as a shooter / off-wing playmaker makes little sense.

PP1 will be 4F1D, no doubt.

Mailloux’s future on the PP is unit 2. QB or left flank shooter.

That wrister and shot I think he's pp1

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

High offensive stats with Hutson is a known fact that never meant much.

Uh... yeah it does.

His offensive talent, IQ, vision, skills are known, the main unanswered question remains if he will be able to be strong and fast enough to be a complete D in the NHL. After his last season he would already be with the Habs if he would be above 6'00 stronger, heavier and faster. But he is not. Imagine him in today's game against Dallas. Oh my! It would have been very hard for him to play at that pace and to efficiently face the big forwards Dallas has.

Nobody would disagree that he's not physically ready. That doesn't mean who won't ever be.

 

[26Mats]

Mailloux as the QB and Hutson as a shooter / off-wing playmaker makes little sense.

PP1 will be 4F1D, no doubt.

Mailloux’s future on the PP is unit 2. QB or left flank shooter.

Yeah Hutson will probably be at the top. But sometimes you want your top passer on the half wall and a big bomb from the top. I originally had Hutson at the top but switched him with Hutson since Hutson is a left shot and Mailloux a right shot. And yes, Mailloux will probably be on pp2, though that unit may have another dman as the qb.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Yeah Hutson will probably be at the top. But sometimes you want your top passer on the half wall and a big bomb from the top. I originally had Hutson at the top but switched him with Hutson since Hutson is a left shot and Mailloux a right shot. And yes, Mailloux will probably be on pp2, though that unit may have another dman as the qb.

The bomb from the point as a primary option is dead, and the top passer on the 1/2 wall is usually strong side (forehand, like Suzuki, Panarin, McDavid, etc …).

Either way, having both on PP means one of them on the left, punting CC to 2nd unit. That shouldn’t happen.

 

[jfm133]

He will turn 20 in four days. He will never be heavier than 170 lbs at best. More likely to be like Jared Spurgeon, stuck around 165 lbs. Some individual are genetically unable to add weight. Look at Aleksi Heponiemi, 5'10 and at 25 now he is stuck at 155 lbs, cannot add more and left the AHL last summer for the Swiss league. He was a two points per game in his D+1 year in the WHL, second round pick because he was so light, ans he never overcame the weakness. Lane's brother, Quinn, two years older is taller at 5'11 and weighs 170 lbs.

Uh... yeah it does.

Nobody would disagree that he's not physically ready. That doesn't mean who won't ever be.

Caufield is a winger with decent speed, very different to be a D with limited speed. A D cannot hide.

Exact same discourse we heard with Caufield.

He would not be able to pull his tricks against the big rude nhl D.

Yet here we are today.

Hutson is immensely talented and the ceiling is a megastar.

Lets see how it unfold. Personally i am betting on his talent, not against his weakness.

Just to point how absurd Hutson is offensively.

Caufield had 88 points in 67 NCAA games as an offensive dynamo forward. Hutson is at 83 points in 64 games.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He will turn 20 in four days. He will never be heavier than 170 lbs at best. More likely to be like Jared Spurgeon, stuck around 165 lbs. Some individual are genetically unable to add weight. Look at Aleksi Heponiemi, 5'10 and at 25 now he is stuck at 155 lbs, cannot add more and left the AHL last summer for the Swiss league. He was a two points per game in his D+1 year in the WHL, second round pick because he was so light, ans he never overcame the weakness. Lane's brother, Quinn, two years older is taller at 5'11 and weighs 170 lbs.



Caufield is a winger with decent speed, very different to be a D with limited speed. A D cannot hide.

I think you’re going to eat serious crow on this.

And no, he’s not going to top out at 170lbs.

 

[jfm133]

I hope you are right. We'll see. I called Struble an A- prospect last spring before his first game with Laval and many laughed at me. I saw in Struble a player with qualities easily translatable to the NHL as a strong defense first D. The first task of a D is to defend, I don't see that in Hutson for the forseeable future, and some offensive stuff he is able to do in the NCAA won't work in the NHL. If I was him I would play one more year at BU, just to try to get faster and stronger. The IQ and all that we know he has it.

I think you’re going to eat serious crow on this.

And no, he’s not going to top out at 170lbs.

 

[tazsub3]

I'll wait until he at least plays one NHL game before making such a bold prediction.

Predictions on a message board are meant to be bold ! Who wants posters that post “you know Mon chum , mc David is the best player in his draft”

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I hope you are right. We'll see. I called Struble an A- prospect last spring before his first game with Laval and many laughed at me. I saw in Struble a player with qualities easily translatable to the NHL as a strong defense first D. The first task of a D is to defend, I don't see that in Hutson for the forseeable future, and some offensive stuff he is able to do in the NCAA won't work in the NHL. If I was him I would play one more year at BU, just to try to get faster and stronger. The IQ and all that we know he has it.

Hutson and Struble are completely different players. Hutson has a very real chance to become a legit number one blueliner and a great PP QB. His upside is huge.

No, it’s not guaranteed that his game will translate. And he’ll always have size limitations but the talent is there.

 

[26Mats]

The bomb from the point as a primary option is dead, and the top passer on the 1/2 wall is usually strong side (forehand, like Suzuki, Panarin, McDavid, etc …).

Either way, having both on PP means one of them on the left, punting CC to 2nd unit. That shouldn’t happen.

If Maillox amd Hutson pan out, the pp should be really exciting. Recently, it seems players having their niche as a base works, but creating a lot of movement where players interchange positions also seems to help.

I hope Hitson can break down dmen and Mailloux can both use his wrister and Clapper, probably mainly from the half wall.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Exact same discourse we heard with Caufield.

He would not be able to pull his tricks against the big rude nhl D.

Yet here we are today.

Hutson is immensely talented and the ceiling is a megastar.

Lets see how it unfold. Personally i am betting on his talent, not against his weakness.

Just to point how absurd Hutson is offensively.

Caufield had 88 points in 67 NCAA games as an offensive dynamo forward. Hutson is at 83 points in 64 games.

His ceiling is absolutely not a "megastar". You can not run this exercise of pretending that there is validity to offensive NCAA stats in relation to NHL production. Caufield was a better skater than Hutson and was much thicker and stronger. Caufield also was already an elite shooter by NHL standards and had some obviously transferable traits while playing a position where he could hide many of his flaws. Taking stats and removing context is always a poor decision and one that is often made to intentionally steer a conversation away from objective analysis and towards bias and/or narrative. There is a reason that Caufield was drafted much higher than Hutson and pretending that Hutson being offensively dominant in the NCAA was a surprise of any kind to the scouting community is either naive or disingenuous. Did they forecast him breaking records? Maybe not but some very well may have and there is also a perfect storm of talent + opportunity and he may or may not have scored as much in other programs. Either way it does not matter, the offence was largely expected and the defence is what will determine how far he goes as a pro.

He almost certainly will never be a great defender as he will always be at a size, strength and very likely a speed disadvantage. "Mega Stars" whatever that silly title encompasses surely shouldn't include players who need to be sheltered.

Can he be an elite offensive weapon? Of course that is a possibility but let's stop trying to pretend that he won't likely will always be a defensive liability to some degree against NHL forwards. Assigning hyperbolic superlatives to his name may be fun but it does not alter reality or cover up his very obvious flaws.

If he becomes a highly productive offensive wizard then I can certainly live with him in a sheltered 5 vs 5 role but anything less and the balance sheet may tell a darker story than stat worshippers may want to recognize.

I am pumped to see him give it a go and I have no idea how it will turn out down the road but it will be fun to watch for better or for worse.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

the main unanswered question remains if he will be able to be strong and fast enough to be a complete D in the NHL.

Hutson doesn't need to be a complete D in the nhl. Hughes and Karlsson are two of the best dman in hockey, and both are not good defensively.

 

[HabzSauce]

Hutson doesn't need to be a complete D in the nhl. Hughes and Karlsson are two of the best dman in hockey, and both are not good defensively.

Hughes is pretty good defensively. And both are better skaters than Huston.

I honestly don't see any comparables for Hutson. He's a unicorn. We're gonna have to wait and see before we draw any conclusions. He's so hard to predict how he'll do in the NHL.

His offence, IQ and compete definitely gives me hope. But man his limitations especially given he's a defenceman cannot be ignored. Regular season he might be fine but playoffs are a different animal

Really excited to see him play some games with us this year though. That should give us a better idea how he'll fare in the NHL even if it's a tiny sample size.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

His ceiling is absolutely not a "megastar". You can not run this exercise of pretending that there is validity to offensive NCAA stats in relation to NHL production. Caufield was a better skater than Hutson and was much thicker and stronger. Caufield also was already an elite shooter by NHL standards and had some obviously transferable traits while playing a position where he could hide many of his flaws. Taking stats and removing context is always a poor decision and one that is often made to intentionally steer a conversation away from objective analysis and towards bias and/or narrative. There is a reason that Caufield was drafted much higher than Hutson and pretending that Hutson being offensively dominant in the NCAA was a surprise of any kind to the scouting community is either naive or disingenuous. Did they forecast him breaking records? Maybe not but some very well may have and there is also a perfect storm of talent + opportunity and he may or may not have scored as much in other programs. Either way it does not matter, the offence was largely expected and the defence is what will determine how far he goes as a pro.

He almost certainly will never be a great defender as he will always be at a size, strength and very likely a speed disadvantage. "Mega Stars" whatever that silly title encompasses surely shouldn't include players who need to be sheltered.

Can he be an elite offensive weapon? Of course that is a possibility but let's stop trying to pretend that he won't likely will always be a defensive liability to some degree against NHL forwards. Assigning hyperbolic superlatives to his name may be fun but it does not alter reality or cover up his very obvious flaws.

If he becomes a highly productive offensive wizard then I can certainly live with him in a sheltered 5 vs 5 role but anything less and the balance sheet may tell a darker story than stat worshippers may want to recognize.

I am pumped to see him give it a go and I have no idea how it will turn out down the road but it will be fun to watch for better or for worse.

Erik Karlsson would qualify as a megastar and was/is a defensive liability. I think if you’re pumping out elite offensive numbers, you’re certainly going to be seen as a star/superstar player.

Hutson has much to work on - as most 20 year old prospects do. But he’s better defensively than I think he’s been given credit for.

I think people who are writing him off as a star are just as wrong as those proclaiming stardom. We won’t know until we see it. But the potential is there. He’s an extremely exciting prospect.

As far as why he went 62nd or whatever… he was 5’7 at the time of the draft. The fact that he was drafted that high at all is a testament to his talent.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Hughes is pretty good defensively. And both are better skaters than Huston.

I honestly don't see any comparables for Hutson. He's a unicorn. We're gonna have to wait and see before we draw any conclusions. He's so hard to predict how he'll do in the NHL.

His offence, IQ and compete definitely gives me hope. But man his limitations especially given he's a defenceman cannot be ignored. Regular season he might be fine but playoffs are a different animal

Really excited to see him play some games with us this year though. That should give us a better idea how he'll fare in the NHL even if it's a tiny sample size.

I don’t think he plays with us this year.

 

[HomaridII]

Erik Karlsson would qualify as a megastar and was/is a defensive liability. I think if you’re pumping out elite offensive numbers, you’re certainly going to be seen as a star/superstar player.

Hutson has much to work on - as most 20 year old prospects do. But he’s better defensively than I think he’s been given credit for.

I think people who are writing him off as a star are just as wrong as those proclaiming stardom. We won’t know until we see it. But the potential is there. He’s an extremely exciting prospect.

As far as why he went 62nd or whatever… he was 5’7 at the time of the draft. The fact that he was drafted that high at all is a testament to his talent.

I wonder people who keep saying he is a defensive liability, how much they have seen him play?

He plays 25-30 mins per game for Boston university, played 30 mins against Boston college last game and their mighty all first rounders first two lines. Played 30 mins against Sweden.

He isn’t a physical defenseman but hr isn’t a liability either. He has elite elite vision and anticipation, he hardly ever gets beat on the forecheck these days and has elite stick work. Watch his games and see how few times he gets beat along the boards, in transition etc

I have nooooo doubts he will be a star in the nhl. Noooo doubts. Second pairing defenseman with elite pp1 qb and transition skills. He eats Matheson for breakfast TODAY, forget after ahl time and seasoning, TODAY. Only Matheson has on him is elite skating.

 

[Michoulicious]

Hutson was playing 25+ minutes on a stacked championship USA team at U20 against the best players of his age group in the world. Sweden's forward were not slow or small.

His coach considered him as his most reliable defenseman.

He played in all situations and was on the Ice when the team needed to defend a lead late in the 3rd period.

He played at men WC last spring as a 19 y old and more than held his own against big, grown adults.

He has beaten every challenge he faced so far.

I would not bet against him.

 

[jfm133]

NCAA and WJC are much weaker than the NHL. Again some players can take this step easily because they have the size, the speed and the strenght. Hutson is at a deficit on these three fronts.