Player Discussion Lane Hutson Part 2

[Estimated_Prophet]

Yeah nothing could go wrong in trading away a small offensive defensemen whos breaking NCAA records... they rarely make it to the NHL anywayz....

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Quinn Hughes is an infinitely better skater than Hutson as well as being thicker and stronger at every stage of their respective developments. Naming an outlier is not evidence to support your apparent cause.

I am not betting against him but this argument needs to stop as he will never even be close to being as good a skater as Quinn Hughes is. Lane will have to do it his own way as there is not a single comparable for Lane that has reached such heights. He will need to make it so that people will refer to other prospects as the next Lane Hutson.....hopefully in a good way

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

Quinn Hughes is an infinitely better skater than Hutson as well as being thicker and stronger at every stage of their respective developments. Naming an outlier is not evidence to support your apparent cause.

I am not betting against him but this argument needs to stop as he will never even be close to being as good a skater as Quinn Hughes is. Lane will have to do it his own way as there is not a single comparable for Lane that has reached such heights. He will need to make it so that people will refer to other prospects as the next Lane Hutson.....hopefully in a good way

Hutson is around 5'9. Probably just below. There's probably an inch separating him and Hughes. So that's not really the problem. We all agree that it's his weight. Lane is listed at around 150 and Hughes at 180. That's a lot I agree. But it's not inconceivable that he can put on 20-30 lbs of mostly muscle from 20 to 22/23 with the right nutritional and physical schedule. That's around the time I went from 145 to 175 with having a similar build to Hutson in my late teens. It's like Slaf. Even though he's a beast for his age, he's gonna be way stronger at 23. I remember watching Hutson in 2021 and laughing at how weak he was against forwards. It'd be harder for Hutson but he's most fighting against time rn

 

[Junohockeyfan]

Habs should take their time developing Hutson. Give him a year in Laval to develop and get stronger.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

I am not a specialist in human genetic or possible growth potential for each individual but I have seen some skinny kids from High School Football which I played with go to College Football and they went from around 5'9 140 to 190+ in a span of maybe 4 or 5 years.
They train like crazy everyday and have strict protein rich diet and eat a lot.
Not saying it is the same case for hockey player but I assume intense off season weight training could at least provide some results and then in season training to keep up that weight.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Hutson is around 5'9. Probably just below. There's probably an inch separating him and Hughes. So that's not really the problem. We all agree that it's his weight. Lane is listed at around 150 and Hughes at 180. That's a lot I agree. But it's not inconceivable that he can put on 20-30 lbs of mostly muscle from 20 to 22/23 with the right nutritional and physical schedule. That's around the time I went from 145 to 175 with having a similar build to Hutson in my late teens. It's like Slaf. Even though he's a beast for his age, he's gonna be way stronger at 23. I remember watching Hutson in 2021 and laughing at how weak he was against forwards. It'd be harder for Hutson but he's most fighting against time rn

It doesn't matter where you or anyone else was at a certain age. Hughes has been bigger than Hutson at every age but size isn't the real issue with this comparison as it only slightly magnifies the enormous gap in skating ability between the two players. Perhaps if Hutson was bigger and stronger than Hughes than one could try and form an argument that might begin to offset the skating advantage for Hughes. When the size issue is also in Hiughes' favour albeit not by a huge margin it all but eliminates the comparison.

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

It doesn't matter where you or anyone else was at a certain age. Hughes has been bigger than Hutson at every age but size isn't the real issue with this comparison as it only slightly magnifies the enormous gap in skating ability between the two players. Perhaps if Hutson was bigger and stronger than Hughes than one could try and form an argument that might begin to offset the skating advantage for Hughes. When the size issue is also in Hiughes' favour albeit not by a huge margin it all but eliminates the comparison.

I'm not saying he will be bigger or comparable to Hughes but it's possible for him by 22 to be 5'9 170 lbs if he puts in the work. Now I had COVID to prepare for such a task but still dude also has professional everything at his disposal especially when he does to Montreal. Also maybe people here said he'd be better than Hughes but if that's the benchmark for hutsons career people here will be disappointed. Saying that though, it doesn't mean he still can't be elite

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

I'm not saying he will be bigger or comparable to Hughes but it's possible for him by 22 to be 5'9 170 lbs if he puts in the work. Now I had COVID to prepare for such a task but still dude also has professional everything at his disposal especially when he does to Montreal. Also maybe people here said he'd be better than Hughes but if that's the benchmark for hutsons career people here will be disappointed. Saying that though, it doesn't mean he still can't be elite

To be fair he is 5'9 1/4" as of his last official measurement and just over 160lbs. He is making claims of being 5'10" again but he got caught in this exact same lie last season and had to embarrassingly own up to oi at camp. It probably doesn't matter much as he will always be undersized by a significant margin and will need to continue to find ways to compensate. Skating is his biggest need for improvement as he has below average speed and is a very poor back skater. His edges are decent but are overrated by the casual fan as what they are seeing is more shimmying and out thinking opponents by changing direction at specific times than it is elite edgework.

He is really young and uber competitive with an enormous brain.......I won't bet against the kid but I would be very surprised to see him become an above average defender who can play against elite forwards.

 

[CHwest]

To be fair he is 5'9 1/4" as of his last official measurement and just over 160lbs. He is making claims of being 5'10" again but he got caught in this exact same lie last season and had to embarrassingly own up to oi at camp. It probably doesn't matter much as he will always be undersized by a significant margin and will need to continue to find ways to compensate. Skating is his biggest need for improvement as he has below average speed and is a very poor back skater. His edges are decent but are overrated by the casual fan as what they are seeing is more shimmying and out thinking opponents by changing direction at specific times than it is elite edgework.

He is really young and uber competitive with an enormous brain.......I won't bet against the kid but I would be very surprised to see him become an above average defender who can play against elite forwards.

I would be shocked. Hopefully I will be.

 

[Frankenheimer]

Lane trying to sneak into NHL

 

[MtlSars]

Quinn Hughes is an infinitely better skater than Hutson as well as being thicker and stronger at every stage of their respective developments. Naming an outlier is not evidence to support your apparent cause.

I am not betting against him but this argument needs to stop as he will never even be close to being as good a skater as Quinn Hughes is. Lane will have to do it his own way as there is not a single comparable for Lane that has reached such heights. He will need to make it so that people will refer to other prospects as the next Lane Hutson.....hopefully in a good way

I don't disagree with you and it is somewhat disingenuous on my part to even compare him to Quinn Hugues or Makar, that is an unbelievable thing to live up to and way too much pressure for the kid.

I wanted to highlight that small offensive defensemen are making their mark in the league and to dismiss him or attempt to trade him prior to him playing with a single game with the Habs on the presumption his game won't translate is preposterous.

I doubt Hutson will ever be the defensemen you put on the ice to keep a lead in the dying minutes of the game, but even if he's a 2nd pairing or 3rd pairing defensemen that plays the PP QB role and is on the ice in OT, I think he will be a stud for us for a long time...

He's an untouchable and shouldn't be traded until we know what we have... I'd hate for him to score 60 points on another team because we gave up on him for a forward to accelerate our rebuild

 

[Naslundforever]

Trading Lane Hutson would be the stupiest thing ever.

I don't know the mentality of some people, they want TALENT in Habs team and now we have LANE HUTSON... they want to trade him because he is small.

Quinn Hughes is small aswell, Torey Krug same size of Lane Hutson, he have great NHL career.

Finally MTL have a prospect with huge talent, some people want to trade him, come on. Thanks god you are not Habs gm, trade talent like that.

Haha Kev I felt that straight from your heart

It’s safe here, we’re all just riffing… Pretty sure he’s safe for a few years still even if it’s more college and ahl for a bit if need be.

I secretly hope he hits the ground running with pp1 and 5-6D mostly at home minutes already in 2024, it’s cool to see talent in the org as you say, makes you dream a bit.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

I don't disagree with you and it is somewhat disingenuous on my part to even compare him to Quinn Hugues or Makar, that is an unbelievable thing to live up to and way too much pressure for the kid.

I wanted to highlight that small offensive defensemen are making their mark in the league and to dismiss him or attempt to trade him prior to him playing with a single game with the Habs on the presumption his game won't translate is preposterous.

I doubt Hutson will ever be the defensemen you put on the ice to keep a lead in the dying minutes of the game, but even if he's a 2nd pairing or 3rd pairing defensemen that plays the PP QB role and is on the ice in OT, I think he will be a stud for us for a long time...

He's an untouchable and shouldn't be traded until we know what we have... I'd hate for him to score 60 points on another team because we gave up on him for a forward to accelerate our rebuild

I agree with much of what you said but he is certainly not an untouchable as there is a very good chance that he will end up as a poor defender and a PP specialist.

There are more smaller Dmen around but there aren't any with Hutson's combination of size and skating concerns. Adam Fox is the closest example and he is bigger, stronger and a better skater than Lane. I trade him in a heartbeat if a team offers a premium forward prospect with size.

The problem is with the lunacy on this board that claims Quinn Hughes as a reasonable comparison and claims that Torrey Krug is the same size as Lane lol......these are actually deranged opinions.

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

To be fair he is 5'9 1/4" as of his last official measurement and just over 160lbs. He is making claims of being 5'10" again but he got caught in this exact same lie last season and had to embarrassingly own up to oi at camp. It probably doesn't matter much as he will always be undersized by a significant margin and will need to continue to find ways to compensate. Skating is his biggest need for improvement as he has below average speed and is a very poor back skater. His edges are decent but are overrated by the casual fan as what they are seeing is more shimmying and out thinking opponents by changing direction at specific times than it is elite edgework.

He is really young and uber competitive with an enormous brain.......I won't bet against the kid but I would be very surprised to see him become an above average defender who can play against elite forwards.

While I think speed is overrated, for D it's pretty important on the back check but he has the ability to slow down the game like Suzuki and be meticulous. Again Karlsson when he was winning Norris's was god awful at D. He played such fre PK minutes for example that it didn't register amongst his peers whereas people like Doughty and Subban were playing all situations. And his partner was Marc Methot who only touched the puck on dumb outs. It moreso matters about his partner. For example, even when he was paired with mete 5 on 5, there was a point where Weber wasn't on the ice for a single 5 on 5 goal for a large chunk of the season while playing against top opposition. That had nothing to do with mete. The only difference is Hutson is elite offensively whereas mete only knew how to skate fast. Reinbacher will make up for the fmdwdensivw deficiencies

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

While I think speed is overrated, for D it's pretty important on the back check but he has the ability to slow down the game like Suzuki and be meticulous. Again Karlsson when he was winning Norris's was god awful at D. He played such fre PK minutes for example that it didn't register amongst his peers whereas people like Doughty and Subban were playing all situations. And his partner was Marc Methot who only touched the puck on dumb outs. It moreso matters about his partner. For example, even when he was paired with mete 5 on 5, there was a point where Weber wasn't on the ice for a single 5 on 5 goal for a large chunk of the season while playing against top opposition. That had nothing to do with mete. The only difference is Hutson is elite offensively whereas mete only knew how to skate fast. Reinbacher will make up for the fmdwdensivw deficiencies

It is not true about the partner being able to compensate for wreckless behaviour, this is not how Cups are won. Contenders don't have dmen who are terrible defensively and Karlsson takes too much heat for his defensive play in Ottawa as he time after time was able to catch players from behind and his elite skating also allowed him to control the play where ever he was on the ice. Lane can not do much of what Karlsson was able to do. Karlsson is a special offensive talent who could and did take over games with his sublime skating and elite hands and vision. Lane Hutson should not be in the same sentence as Karlsson.

Reinbacher won't be making up for Lane's deficiencies if Lane is on the 3rd pairing.

Hutson from a historical comparative analysis should be a 3rd pairing pp specialist. Until he proves that he can defend against the leagues top players we should not be speaking of him as an option as one of the top 3 or 4 even strength usage players moving forward. We are building an extremely strong D-corps where it very much looks like he will be the worst defender by a significant margin.

There is a lot to love about the kid but to arbitrarily anoint him as a trusted defender against the leagues best players is entirely without merit. Start with a more plausible role as I have and consider anything above and beyond that a bonus.....or not and you do you lol. I an cheering for you to be right on this one but rational though just can't justify going there just yet.

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

It is not true about the partner being able to compensate for wreckless behaviour, this is not how Cups are won. Contenders don't have dmen who are terrible defensively and Karlsson takes too much heat for his defensive play in Ottawa as he time after time was able to catch players from behind and his elite skating also allowed him to control the play where ever he was on the ice. Lane can not do much of what Karlsson was able to do. Karlsson is a special offensive talent who could and did take over games with his sublime skating and elite hands and vision. Lane Hutson should not be in the same sentence as Karlsson.

Reinbacher won't be making up for Lane's deficiencies if Lane is on the 3rd pairing.

Hutson from a historical comparative analysis should be a 3rd pairing pp specialist. Until he proves that he can defend against the leagues top players we should not be speaking of him as an option as one of the top 3 or 4 even strength usage players moving forward. We are building an extremely strong D-corps where it very much looks like he will be the worst defender by a significant margin.

There is a lot to love about the kid but to arbitrarily anoint him as a trusted defender against the leagues best players is entirely without merit. Start with a more plausible role as I have and consider anything above and beyond that a bonus.....or not and you do you lol. I an cheering for you to be right on this one but rational though just can't justify going there just yet.

If Hutson can be a PPG player, would you put him on a 1st pairing? Cause everything you're saying is great and all until you realize Q Hughes sucks defensively in his own zone and so did Karlsson. I'm not talking about how well they back check in the neutral zone. I mean when the opposition has possession in your some and is cycling, how effective are you. Quinn Hughes is good at breakouts but he's not an effective defender against elite forwards. Should he be a 3rd pair PP specialist. You make it seem as though defencemen are always playing defence 5 on 5. Most offence D men have good analytics because they aren't put in a position to be chasing in their own zone. If hutson is a huge reason why the team keeps possession 5 on 5, why wouldn't you play him as much as you can. And it goes with the opposite. Why would Ottawa play Methot so much if he couldn't do anything offensively including breakouts. Possession is the name of the game and Hutson has outstanding possession numbers. And I simply reject your claim that cups aren't won by partners or linemates. The combination is in some ways more important than the players themselves

 

[Jaynki]

Lane will have to do it his own way

That is exactly what we should be betting on and discover in our organisation.

If Hutson can be a PPG player, would you put him on a 1st pairing? Cause everything you're saying is great and all until you realize Q Hughes sucks defensively in his own zone and so did Karlsson. I'm not talking about how well they back check in the neutral zone. I mean when the opposition has possession in your some and is cycling, how effective are you. Quinn Hughes is good at breakouts but he's not an effective defender against elite forwards. Should be be a 3rd pair PP specialist. You make it seem as though defencemen are always playing defence 5 on 5. Most offence D men have good analytics because they aren't put in a position to be chasing in their own zone. If hutson is a huge reason why the team keeps possession 5 on 5, why wouldn't you play him as much as you can. And it goes with the opposite. Why would Ottawa play Methot so much if he couldn't do anything offensively including breakouts. Possession is the name of the game and Hutson has outstanding possession numbers. And I simply reject your claim that cups aren't won by partners or linemates. The combination is in some ways more important than the players themselves

You want these guys on the ice for the maximum amount of time possible and you want the puck to transit through them

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

That is exactly what we should be betting on and discover in our organisation.




You want these guys on the ice for the maximum amount of time possible and you want the puck to transit through them

No I want them on the ice as much as they can handle without turning into Mike Matheson. If that's 20 min, fine. If it's 22 min, fine. It's subjective. What I do know is someone like Reinbacher will probably be playing 25+ min in the playoffs easily

 

[admiralcadillac]

Habs getting in finals because of Covid system. Without Covid, no finals for Habs sorry not sorry. Because they would play against TB before finals and lose against TB.

All the other teams had to do was beat the Habs.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Quinn Hughes is an infinitely better skater than Hutson as well as being thicker and stronger at every stage of their respective developments. Naming an outlier is not evidence to support your apparent cause.

I am not betting against him but this argument needs to stop as he will never even be close to being as good a skater as Quinn Hughes is. Lane will have to do it his own way as there is not a single comparable for Lane that has reached such heights. He will need to make it so that people will refer to other prospects as the next Lane Hutson.....hopefully in a good way

His chart listed high scoring blueliners and it includes some smaller players.

The fact is that smaller blueliners are having greater success than they ever have in this league. Fox, Hughes and even Makar aren’t that big.

Yes, they’re bigger than Hutson and it’s something to be cognizant of. But Hutson is a highly skilled player who’s been able to dominate at the NCAA level and has had doubters his whole life.

He’s not going to walk in and dominate the NHL the way he did in college and he’ll have to make adjustments. But he’s already proven that he doesn’t have to skate like Hughes to find success.

Highly deceptive, smart and driven player. I think he’ll figure things out. As for playing D, I suspect most of the time he’s on the ice the puck will be in the opposing zone.

 

[HabzSauce]

Regular season and playoffs are two completely different animals. Even with his skating and size issues, I could definitely see Hutson becoming an impact player during the reg season , especially on the PP and in 3v3 OT.

That's nice and all, but It's the Ploffs that is worrisome. Ploffs are most important and should be top priority for constructing a hockey team. That's all I think about when It comes to Hutson - how will he look in a playoff style of hockey?

I want 5v5 players more than anything. I think many are overrating the importance of him running the PP and 3v3. If that's all he can bring but gets suffocated come playoff time, who really cares honestly.

Not gonna bet against the kid because there's a lot to love, but god i can't wait until he starts playing some games for us so we can better assess his potential. He's too much of a unicorn right now to come to any solid conclusions.

 

[ryan callahan]

Hughes suddenly becoming a great skater for the sake of this argument when it's blatantly not true is laughable. Hutson could have 200 pts and some posters would spit out the same bs to justify their hatred of the chance a 160 pound player could make the NHL.

 

[Vachon23]

Regular season and playoffs are two completely different animals. Even with his skating and size issues, I could definitely see Hutson becoming an impact player during the reg season , especially on the PP and in 3v3 OT.

That's nice and all, but It's the Ploffs that is worrisome. Ploffs are most important and should be top priority for constructing a hockey team. That's all I think about when It comes to Hutson - how will he look in a playoff style of hockey?

I want 5v5 players more than anything. I think many are overrating the importance of him running the PP and 3v3. If that's all he can bring but gets suffocated come playoff time, who really cares honestly.

Not gonna bet against the kid because there's a lot to love, but god i can't wait until he starts playing some games for us so we can better assess his potential. He's too much of a unicorn right now to come to any solid conclusions.

If they reach there potential, During playoff time, I expect Guhle-Reinbacher to be the 1st pair and eat a lot of minutes and Hutson to be hide on a 3rd pair and be used and be used in specific role

 

[admiralcadillac]

Not sure the people thinking that Hutson’s size is an issue realize he’s playing in the NCAA with guys who are every bit as big as the NHL. It’s not a junior league.

 

[Playmaker09]

Quinn Hughes is an infinitely better skater than Hutson as well as being thicker and stronger at every stage of their respective developments. Naming an outlier is not evidence to support your apparent cause.

I am not betting against him but this argument needs to stop as he will never even be close to being as good a skater as Quinn Hughes is. Lane will have to do it his own way as there is not a single comparable for Lane that has reached such heights. He will need to make it so that people will refer to other prospects as the next Lane Hutson.....hopefully in a good way

Ryan Ellis carved out a great career and was never fleet of foot.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Ryan Ellis carved out a great career and was never fleet of foot.

Ryan Ellis was a very good skater.

I am not saying that Hutson can not have a very good career, just that the comparison to Hughes is silly due to the fact that Hughes' skating is so superior to Hutson's in every way.

If we are going to shoot for the stars with Hutson then Fox is a better comparison and Lane has a long way to go to get to Fox's skating level despite the fact that Fox doesn't have exceptional straight ahead speed. He will also likely never reach Fox's size of 5'11" 185 lbs but stylistically if everything in Hutson's development goes as well as it possibly could, his upside is much closer to Adam Fox. It is very unlikely that Hutson reaches this target and people around here need to be much more realistic about Lane's realistic upside which at the high end is a great PP QB who takes a regular shift on the third pairing but moves up in usage when the team needs offence.