Player Discussion Lane Hutson Part 2
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montreal
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- Mar 21, 2002
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It will be interesting to see what MSL does, I'm not a fan of Matheson, Hutson should be the #1 PP QB.
Grate n Colorful Oz
Pure Laine Hutson
If Reinbacher and Guhle are our two best defensive D's, while Hutson is the best offensive D rather than Mailloux, I think the future will look more like this:
Hutson-Reinbacher
Guhle-Mailloux
Put Guhle and Reinbacher together to protect the score, Hutson and Mailloux to tie a late game.
I don't see Matheson staying after his contract. Too many lefties knocking at the door and Matheson will be looking for one last big payday.
Estimated_Prophet
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- Mar 28, 2003
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Matheson has a much better shot than Hutson but Hutson has the higher IQ and ridiculous puck skills.
I agree that I would prefer to see Hutson on the top unit if there is an actual top unit as opposed to a 1a,1b that I think will be the case. Matheson will start with Suzuki's crew and Hutson will start with Dach's crew imo. I think it would be seen as a demotion for Matheson to be separated from the Suzuki unit and I do not see MSL making those waves straight out of camp.
MSL may simply use the promotion as a reward to push Lane to improve his rush defence as he has been beaten quite easily a few times in preseason but I think he will be the top PP QB on this team for a long time and maybe one of the very best in the entire league.
If everyone stays healthy we could potentially put up elite pp numbers which would likely vault us into a playoff spot. I am excited to see such a brilliant young talent making plays at the top of the umbrella and can't wait to see what happens next year when Demidov is added to the mix.
montreal
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Matheson failed as the PP QB last year so to me he's lost that job if I were MSL. Or so I assume as I didn't watch very much.
Estimated_Prophet
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It is a tricky question to answer as Lane will likely always be our worst defender despite his huge offensive upside. Do they use him 5 vs 5 on the 3rd pairing against the opponents 3rd and 4th lines and let lesser skilled dmen match up with the league's top scorers? I would love to see him tried eventually on the right side as he has the brains, hands and elusiveness to pull it off.
It is a great dilemma to have and will be interesting to see how everything evolves.
Estimated_Prophet
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The shortcomings of the PP were entirely on the fact that we did not have a remotely viable 2nd unit. Both Suzuki and Matheson had good PP numbers.
He put up 62 points last year with 28 of them on the pp and to say he failed would be the same as saying every player failed so why not replace all of them. 28 pp points is nothing to sneeze at and while I am in agreement that Hutson would be an upgrade, Matheson is still a legitimate PP option on most if not all NHL teams. Matheson has two clear advantages as he is a far superior skater and as we saw last season could often catch and neutralize players that appeared to be destined for a full breakaway attempt. He also has a much heavier shot than Hutson although Hutson is so sneaky at flicking the puck on net through lane manipulation and with pinpoint accuracy. My biggest issue with Matheson was that he almost never one touched a pass as he would always catch and collect which gave the opposition time to adjust. Lane is much smarter in this regard and I trust him more than I do Matheson to make better and more effective decisions.
So, we definitely agree but I would just push back a little on the harshness with which Matheson is being portrayed as he is getting heat that is disproportionate with his deficiencies.
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montreal
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Aside from the hawks, jackets, flyers, and sabers they had the worst PP in the league, so to me that's not getting the job done. Plus he just does some dumb shit as the shot is there but his vision sucks.
The way to fix that apparently is to trade for one of the best PP players in the world and put him in 2nd PP.
Estimated_Prophet
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That was entirely due to not having a second unit. Only 7 dmen in the entire league had more pp points than Matheson with the leader (Makar) having only 8 more pp points despite having Mackinnon/Rantanen/Nichuskin with him. The numbers would suggest that Suzuki and Matheson were responsible for almost all of the production that we did get and I don't know how they were going to make the 2nd unit viable from the bench. I watched every one of their games and while Matheson does frustrate me with the need to dust the puck off every time he receives it, he also made a lot of surprising plays with his feet that very few NHL dmen can dream of making and they resulted in some goals that only he could facilitate on this team.
It just can't be argued that he failed as a pp QB even though I am in agreement that Hutson can do even better which should be viewed as more of an endorsement of Hutson's abilities than an indictment on Matheson's abilities. We can agree that Hutson should be the eventual heir to the job but I don't think that necessitates an overly enthusiastic rebuke of Matheson's value.
montreal
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I don't know the story on Laine, other then he had to get treatment so I will wait and see how they handle him and how it goes. Just to me, given we were 5th last last year, not likely going to sniff the playoffs, the PP has been a total failure since we lost Markov, Hutson from day 1 would be my PP QB. If they want to use Matheson next to him, that's risky defensively but with his shot it could work out well as Hutson knows how to get pucks to everyone on the ice not just one side of it.
Catanddogguitarrr
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montreal
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how much TOI does the 2nd unit get on ave? the PP sucked as Matheson is not a good QB imo. I would bet heavily if you put Hutson in Matheson's spot last year the PP would have been a good bit higher cause he can spread the puck around well, something I don't think Matheson does.
26Mats
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I still am lookong forward to seeing us when both Matheson and Hutson are healthy and in the lineup. They won't play on the same pair, unless we're trying to come back at the end of the game. But it could be a really good back to back one two punch. It will be lile having a 4th forward on the ice for 40 to 50 minutes of the game. I think it could really be exciting. Hopefully Guhle and Savard can hold down the defensive end!
And then same thing on the pp. It could be quite the luxury to eventually have Hutson on the first unit and Matheson on the second.
Estimated_Prophet
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Like I pointed out, he was one of the highest producing PP dmen in the league last season and that just can not be argued with especially when we were at or near the bottom of the league in pp opportunities. At the end of the season Marty had pretty much given up on the second unit but most teams run their first unit much more than their 2nd unit.
You already pointed out that you don't watch many Montreal games so I am a little confused as to where your opposition to his stats are even coming from.
If I am correct this conversation won't matter a whole lot as we may actually run two strong units (which is a rarity in the NHL) and Hutson and Matheson will be QBing the unit with the freshest legs and/or the unit that is enjoying the most success.
montreal
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So i'm not concerned with him being the highest point producing, I'm looking for him to QB the PP, so he needs to make everyone on the ice better and I don't think he does that very well at all and I think Hutson will. We know he can shoot the puck but his decision making/vision need work imo.
I have watched Laine since he was 16 and he already had the claim to the best shot in the world then, most just didn't know it yet. It has historically worked better with a RH defenseman on the point because they can basically redirect a pass from right side to the left quickly and allow the onetimer while goalie is still moving and not square to him.
With left handed D that speed of crossing doesn't happen, CBJ totally nerfed Laine by having Werenski run the PP1, he is a shoot first left handed defenseman, excellent player but not ideal when you have a better shot on the left, where he would not pass often and it would be obvious and slow. CBJ started using Laine on RD spot in PP (and he could score from there with
wristers, no onetimer ) because they wanted Johnny Hockey to run it from left.
Hutson is what can create that room and get the puck to Patty, even though he is LH. He is capable of drawing opponents to him and then getting the puck to open teammates. He can exploit the space if opponents are focusing on blocking Patty as they usually do.
Estimated_Prophet
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Agreed that he needs work in those areas and interestingly enough I wonder how much the vet will try and learn from Lane as Matheson would be a franchise dman with Hutson's mind.
The points do matter however as Matheson does create a lot of opportunities all by himself and was unequivocally a high end PP point man last season. I prefer the way Hutson goes about it as I am a process person and I prefer to see a chain of correct decisions rather than a faulty decision that requires phenomenal skill to rectify.
We do need to pull the reigns a little on the Hutson hype though as this is preseason and even though I think he will still work his magic, he still needs to prove that he can consistently do it in games that count at a rate that mitigates any defensive short comings. I won't bet against the kid as my favourite attribute of his is his fierce competitive nature and his unwavering belief in himself.
Ozmodiar
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Suzuki was the true QB from the half wall. Matheson was just the release valve. The reset guy.
Also, a 2nd unit plays a key part with 35-40% of the work. For example, the Rangers had rookie Fox on PP2 and Deangelo on PP1. Both had the same production rate as MM last season. No drop off. Meanwhile, we had Xhekaj and barron with no production.
I don’t even care who’s on PP1 this season, BTW. It will work itself out.
The season isn't started and yet some are mad because Hutson wasn't on the PP1 during practise. Seriously...as if lines are settled for the complete season, without any possible move.We are spending too much time inside i suppose, we need fresh air and a bit of sun
he shook off a couple of hits, mid-stride, from some big boys tonight. hadn't seen him do that before - pretty impressive
FLHabs
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