Hutson is certainly electrifying out there and his performance surpassed my expectations by a fair margin. It is so refreshing to see a player create offense organically like he can, and he's not a complete liability on defence. His passing is top-notch, he finds ways to get his shot through to the net, and he seems to find it easy to create space for himself and teammates with his agile skating and puck handling. Off puck in the O zone, he has a high level of awareness to give the puck carrier passing options to make a play.
I don't ever expect him to be a defensive stalwart, but I think he can develop into a player who can hold is own without the puck in the d-zone. I think teams will be more focused on how to neutralize his offensive threat than how to exploit him defensively.
It will be interesting to see how teams choose to deal with the threat he brings on virtually every shift. It will be equally interesting to see how Hutson adjusts and responds when teams start keying in on him.