Player Discussion Lane Hutson Part 2

[jfm133]

It does not matter. He is bigger and faster than Hutson and it was good for him. He could have played a fourth year.

Play his last NCAA year in order to force his way to NYR ?

 

[Adam Michaels]

Mathias Brunet a journalist from La Presse went To Vermont to see Hutson play in January and got an interview with him after the game. He wrote: "A late second-round pick in 2022, 62nd overall, Hutson is generously listed at 5-foot-10 and 155 pounds. We can give him at least an inch and 10 pounds less, just by looking at him". Hutson measurements are inflated, which we often see with smaller athletes. He is not Adam Fox, and Fox played three years at Harvard. Tell me what Fox had to learn in his third year. Nothing but he gained maturity.

Rondelle libre | La Hutsonmania vient de naître…

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Fox wanted to become a free agent so he can choose where to sign. He had no intentions of signing his ELC with Calgary, who drafted him. Which is why they traded him to Carolina in the Lindholm/Hanifin/Hamilton deal. And hence why Canes traded him to the Rangers, the only team he was willing to sign for.

If Fox would have signed with the Flames, he would not have gone back for a third year. And if Canes never traded him to New York, he would have surely gone back to Harvard for a 4th year. But Canes traded him to get something rather than letting him walk if he completes his 4 years and becomes a UFA.

 

[jfm133]

I know all that, nonetheless, Hutson is smaller and slower than Fox. A third season in the NCAA should be good for him just to mature.

Fox wanted to become a free agent so he can choose where to sign. He had no intentions of signing his ELC with Calgary, who drafted him. Which is why they traded him to Carolina in the Lindholm/Hanifin/Hamilton deal. And hence why Canes traded him to the Rangers, the only team he was willing to sign for.

If Fox would have signed with the Flames, he would not have gone back for a third year. And if Canes never traded him to New York, he would have surely gone back to Harvard for a 4th year. But Canes traded him to get something rather than letting him walk if he completes his 4 years and becomes a UFA.

 

[Adam Michaels]

I know all that, nonetheless, Hutson is smaller and slower than Fox. A third season in the NCAA should be good for him just to mature.

If you know Fox didn't go back for a third year because the organization told him to instead of him going back because he didn't want to sign with the team that drafted him, then there is no point using him as an example.

It's similar to people pointing out Draisaitl was sent back to junior after he was drafted instead of the AHL while forgetting that he was not eligible. It was brought up often when fans were asking Slaf to be sent to CHL rather than AHL.

As for Hutson, his IQ more than makes up for his shortcomings. He has things to work on, but overall, he will no longer be challenged at the NCAA level next year. He can grow and mature in the Canadiens environment. He can improve on his skating working directly with the development team.

If he goes back to the NCAA for a third season, je ne vais pas déchirer ma chemise. But I don't think it will be a challenge.

 

[HomaridII]

He said he's 5'9 and 160lbs on Grant's podcast.

No he didn't he said 5'10

Thank you. I didn't want to argue stupidities and false statements. He also didn't say 160. He said 165 before the World Juniors and lost a couple pounds during the tournament.

He even said what he was eating to make up the weight again.

I hate when people flat out lie to suit their narrative.

If you know Fox didn't go back for a third year because the organization told him to instead of him going back because he didn't want to sign with the team that drafted him, then there is no point using him as an example.

It's similar to people pointing out Draisaitl was sent back to junior after he was drafted instead of the AHL while forgetting that he was not eligible.

As for Hutson, his IQ more than makes up for his shortcomings. He has things to work on, but overall, he will no longer be challenged at the NCAA level next year. He can grow and mature in the Canadiens environment. He can improve on his skating working directly with the development team.

If he goes back to the NCAA for a third season, je ne vais pas déchirer ma chemise. But I don't think it will be a challenge.

thank you for stating what I was too lazy to do. Anybody watching his games more than once or twice can see he has nothing left to proof at the ncaa and u20 level, on both ends of the ice.

Now he needs to play against men, have a proper weight training program, proper nutrition program and proper skills development program.

 

[jfm133]

Hutson is not a winger that you can somewath hide. He is a D, and he is nowhere close to be able to withstand the physical nature and speed of the NHL. He will get exposed pretty fast. Hockey IQ cannot compensate a huge deficit in size and strenght. Some stuff he does in the NCAA will not work in the NHL. Also, he is not an elite skater, so he won't be able to compensate lack of size with speed.

If you know Fox didn't go back for a third year because the organization told him to instead of him going back because he didn't want to sign with the team that drafted him, then there is no point using him as an example.

It's similar to people pointing out Draisaitl was sent back to junior after he was drafted instead of the AHL while forgetting that he was not eligible. It was brought up often when fans were asking Slaf to be sent to CHL rather than AHL.

As for Hutson, his IQ more than makes up for his shortcomings. He has things to work on, but overall, he will no longer be challenged at the NCAA level next year. He can grow and mature in the Canadiens environment. He can improve on his skating working directly with the development team.

If he goes back to the NCAA for a third season, je ne vais pas déchirer ma chemise. But I don't think it will be a challenge.

 

[Sorinth]

Hutson is not a winger that you can somewath hide. He is a D, and he is nowhere close to be able to withstand the physical nature and speed of the NHL. He will get exposed pretty fast. Hockey IQ cannot compensate a huge deficit in size and strenght. Some stuff he does in the NCAA will not work in the NHL. Also, he is not an elite skater, so he won't be able to compensate lack of size with speed.

Which is exactly why people want him to turn pro, if he goes back to the NCAA he will just continue to reinforce and internalize that stuff which is bad for his development.

 

[Tyson]

Folks might want to temper down expectations for Lane Hutson. While his skills are off the charts along with his hockey IQ the fact remains is that he is pint sized and possesses average skating. I hope for the best.

 

[Sam de Mtl]

Folks might want to temper down expectations for Lane Hutson. While his skills are off the charts along with his hockey IQ the fact remains is that he is pint sized and possesses average skating. I hope for the best.

Noone will modify their view until his first pro steps, when everyone will say he is terrible after 3 NHL games, only to say that he has arrived and that they were initially right even though they had lost faith for a second when he has 2 good games in a row. Then we will either spend the whole summer being way over the top or super gloomy based on how his last few games have gone.

Get ready. Nonsense is coming one way or the other. Way too positive or way too negative. I look forward to this place being way too neutral about something.

 

[Tyson]

Noone will modify their view until his first pro steps, when everyone will say he is terrible after 3 NHL games, only to say that he has arrived and that they were initially right even though they had lost faith for a second when he has 2 good games in a row. Then we will either spend the whole summer being way over the top or super gloomy based on how his last few games have gone.

Get ready. Nonsense is coming one way or the other. Way too positive or way too negative. I look forward to this place being way too neutral about something.

I hope he becomes a great player. I am just keeping my expectations in check

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Still bullish. He’s grown up the smallest guy and dominated. I think he’ll be - at minimum - a really good offensive blueliner.

AHL next year please.

 

[Guess]

Hutson is not a winger that you can somewath hide. He is a D, and he is nowhere close to be able to withstand the physical nature and speed of the NHL. He will get exposed pretty fast. Hockey IQ cannot compensate a huge deficit in size and strenght. Some stuff he does in the NCAA will not work in the NHL. Also, he is not an elite skater, so he won't be able to compensate lack of size with speed.

He's playing in the NHL/AHL next year. End of story.

You can quote me on this in the future if I'm wrong

 

[Goalfield13]

Noone will modify their view until his first pro steps, when everyone will say he is terrible after 3 NHL games, only to say that he has arrived and that they were initially right even though they had lost faith for a second when he has 2 good games in a row. Then we will either spend the whole summer being way over the top or super gloomy based on how his last few games have gone.

Get ready. Nonsense is coming one way or the other. Way too positive or way too negative. I look forward to this place being way too neutral about something.

I just hope he can survive 3 NHL games. People are underestimating the size and speed difference between the NCAA and the NHL.

 

[montreal]

You've seen pretty much every Hutson's game. How do you feel about him joining the habs/rocket to end the year? Do you think he's ready or you'd send him back to the NCAA another year?

I wouldn't put him in the NHL that's for sure but I would do something outside the box and I would sign him and look to loan him to an SHL club. His situation reminds me of Suzuki and the talk about what to do with him since he was 19 and already dominated the OHL but needed to physically mature and work on his skating, speed, strength.

With Hutson his offensive game is clearly too good for the NCAA so he has nothing to learn offensively as I thin he needs to be challenged more so that he starts to use his teammates more instead of holding onto the puck for so long and trying to do so much on his own.

The problem is that he's 5'9 160 or so and that makes him extremely light which imo is a big concern. Add he's going to have to improve his backwards skating and learn to trust it. In the SHL it's more clutch and grab but on the bigger ice it would force him to work on his skating more and getting rid of pucks quicker or just not always holding onto them so long.

 

[Goalfield13]

I wouldn't put him in the NHL that's for sure but I would do something outside the box and I would sign him and look to loan him to an SHL club. His situation reminds me of Suzuki and the talk about what to do with him since he was 19 and already dominated the OHL but needed to physically mature and work on his skating, speed, strength.

With Hutson his offensive game is clearly too good for the NCAA so he has nothing to learn offensively as I thin he needs to be challenged more so that he starts to use his teammates more instead of holding onto the puck for so long and trying to do so much on his own.

The problem is that he's 5'9 160 or so and that makes him extremely light which imo is a big concern. Add he's going to have to improve his backwards skating and learn to trust it. In the SHL it's more clutch and grab but on the bigger ice it would force him to work on his skating more and getting rid of pucks quicker or just not always holding onto them so long.

SHL is a great idea. I think the AHL is way too risky as well. He will be targetted at 160.

 

[Miller Time]

I wouldn't put him in the NHL that's for sure but I would do something outside the box and I would sign him and look to loan him to an SHL club. His situation reminds me of Suzuki and the talk about what to do with him since he was 19 and already dominated the OHL but needed to physically mature and work on his skating, speed, strength.

With Hutson his offensive game is clearly too good for the NCAA so he has nothing to learn offensively as I thin he needs to be challenged more so that he starts to use his teammates more instead of holding onto the puck for so long and trying to do so much on his own.

The problem is that he's 5'9 160 or so and that makes him extremely light which imo is a big concern. Add he's going to have to improve his backwards skating and learn to trust it. In the SHL it's more clutch and grab but on the bigger ice it would force him to work on his skating more and getting rid of pucks quicker or just not always holding onto them so long.

This would be interesting and possibly ideal... But he'd have to be fully bought in & that's far from a given. KH/MSL would need to do one hell of a sell job to convince him.

 

[HuGort]

5'09 and 160 lbs. He would be the smallest D in the NHL.

Spurgeon about same size. Had a good career in NHL. Didn't have Hutson's skill set

 

[Adam Michaels]

Hutson is not a winger that you can somewath hide. He is a D, and he is nowhere close to be able to withstand the physical nature and speed of the NHL. He will get exposed pretty fast. Hockey IQ cannot compensate a huge deficit in size and strenght. Some stuff he does in the NCAA will not work in the NHL. Also, he is not an elite skater, so he won't be able to compensate lack of size with speed.

Guess where he can adapt to the NHL game? I give you 3 guesses.

Folks might want to temper down expectations for Lane Hutson. While his skills are off the charts along with his hockey IQ the fact remains is that he is pint sized and possesses average skating. I hope for the best.

Thing about Hutson is that he will always be pint sized. Same as Caufield, these players have been the smallest at whatever level they played. They know how to work with their size.

As for his skating, he can continue to work on that in the pros.

 

[montreal]

This would be interesting and possibly ideal... But he'd have to be fully bought in & that's far from a given. KH/MSL would need to do one hell of a sell job to convince him.

Early in the season I just assumed that he would naturally want the chance to play with both his brothers and that he clearly being so light and having some issues yet might figure the best thing would be one more year. He's not eligible for the "loophole" that Rhett Pitlick is where you can become a UFA in July after your 3rd year in the NCAA (because they didn't go directly to the NCAA after being drafted) but it would then put him a year away from being a UFA which his agent will know that just about every NHL team would be interesting to signing him for free.

So signing him in April makes a lot of sense but I worry they rush him as they appear to do so with more ease then I would like to see after years of MB rushing kids left and right. It's hard to say if the Habs would even consider this since they talked about Michkov and not being able to control his development though that was for 3 years so a different situation since it would be I assume just for a year but I do think it would help him with his skating while helping him learn a more pro game and giving him time to physically mature a bit longer while not under the spotlight.

 

[Adam Michaels]

I wouldn't put him in the NHL that's for sure but I would do something outside the box and I would sign him and look to loan him to an SHL club. His situation reminds me of Suzuki and the talk about what to do with him since he was 19 and already dominated the OHL but needed to physically mature and work on his skating, speed, strength.

If Suzuki was eligible for the AHL, he wouldn't go back to the OHL. But that was probably more beneficial for him because that was the Bergevin era, and there was no real development system for him to help him.

With Hutson his offensive game is clearly too good for the NCAA so he has nothing to learn offensively as I thin he needs to be challenged more so that he starts to use his teammates more instead of holding onto the puck for so long and trying to do so much on his own.

He does need to be challenged. But that will happen in the pros.

The problem is that he's 5'9 160 or so and that makes him extremely light which imo is a big concern. Add he's going to have to improve his backwards skating and learn to trust it. In the SHL it's more clutch and grab but on the bigger ice it would force him to work on his skating more and getting rid of pucks quicker or just not always holding onto them so long.

He was small when he was selected. He is small in his D+2 year. He will be small when he turns pro. He will be small when he's in the NHL for 5 years. I'm not sure why so many are all of a sudden concerned about his size.

I'm not crazy about loaning him to a European league. Any deficiciencies he has in his skating will be much better addressed here in Montreal or Laval, where the development team can work directly with him by getting on the ice. It won't be the weekly video sessions all the prospects have with Nicholas and that Hutson's been having the last two years. It will be hands on development.

I won't be mad if he is indeed loaned to a European league. I just believe the best place for him to be challenged while also working on the areas he needs to work on is right here with the Habs/Rocket.

 

[HabzSauce]

How hard is it to stack an extra 10-15 lbs of muscle especially at his age?

At 18 years old, I was 6'2 and weighed a whopping 140 LOL. I was a twig but over the next year I gained 60 pounds just through sheer diet alone.

Alot of it was fat of course I would eat anything to get those calories in me....but still I figure if lane eats 3000-4000 calories through healthy foods like eggs, steaks, potatoes etc and keeps training like an animal, surely he could hit 180 lbs no?

I know they shed a lot of weight when they play but still

 

[EXPOS123]

I wouldn't put him in the NHL that's for sure but I would do something outside the box and I would sign him and look to loan him to an SHL club. His situation reminds me of Suzuki and the talk about what to do with him since he was 19 and already dominated the OHL but needed to physically mature and work on his skating, speed, strength.

With Hutson his offensive game is clearly too good for the NCAA so he has nothing to learn offensively as I thin he needs to be challenged more so that he starts to use his teammates more instead of holding onto the puck for so long and trying to do so much on his own.

The problem is that he's 5'9 160 or so and that makes him extremely light which imo is a big concern. Add he's going to have to improve his backwards skating and learn to trust it. In the SHL it's more clutch and grab but on the bigger ice it would force him to work on his skating more and getting rid of pucks quicker or just not always holding onto them so long.

So he’s back to being 5’9?

What happened to all that “He’s grown to 5’10 or 5’11 ” talk?

 

[Tyson]

Guess where he can adapt to the NHL game? I give you 3 guesses.



Thing about Hutson is that he will always be pint sized. Same as Caufield, these players have been the smallest at whatever level they played. They know how to work with their size.

As for his skating, he can continue to work on that in the pros.

How many small players can you afford to have in a 7 game series against a very big team like Vegas?

 

[Canadienna]

How many small players can you afford to have in a 7 game series against a very big team like Vegas?

Obviously the answer isn't 0 (see Vegas). And it's not 20.

Habs (and Caufield in particular) had no issue against a Vegas team a couple years ago that had the same reputation, in part because we had our own big guys (and yeah a few small guys).

I don't know if Hutson will be able to handle the NHL, obviously, but I wouldn't worry too much about having a few smaller guys in the farm, because we've also got some beef in that same farm.

 

[GTA]

How many small players can you afford to have in a 7 game series against a very big team like Vegas?

That is an antiquated question to ask. Marchessault created more room in the playoffs last year than any large player. Skill matters more than size.