he still looks unnatural skating backwards. He has a lot of work to go, I wish I could say he reminds me of subban, but subban was more brain dead in his own end in jr. hockey. Partnered with the right guy and he’s a Norris calibre d man. Hutson will need that too, I think he’ll be an nhl player, but his backward skating when playing a guy is still below average. He’s treading water on the defensive end of skating, but he was so bad when he was drafted it was comical. It’s not comical but it’s clearly his weakest area.
i havent been this excited about a pick outside round 1 since subban. I hope he’s in ahl for a year like subban was for us.
In the modern NHL staking backwards doesn't work all the time. The younger generations of players are being taught how to come in from angles from the front and lateral sides and are trying to minimize always skating backwards. Some of the forwards are just too fast.
He can drop back to the red or opposite blue line on his off side (puck on other side of zone with opponent controlling the puck) and then skate forward in, angling the player the direction he wants to take them. The left and ring wing lock systems in hockey have been used for decades and have the forwards and D all doing this in unison.
Hutson is very good laterally and his edge work is top tier. He is the exact modern day type of player who can find success with practice and development. With his size he will never be a physical force. That is why we drafted and signed several other D that are. He is sneaky good at striping pucks away from players for his size and he generates enough offense to make the minor defensive issues a non-issue.
He did this from the age 13, all the way up and through the USNTDP, then in NCAA verse older players, and has done the same in several national tournaments for the USA, including the one with full grown NHL/EU players (WC). If he was going to fall flat on his face I think it would have already happened by now.
He is smart and a fast learner. His USA teammates in the NHL as well as his USA/NHL level coach have said the same. The thing they spoke of the most was his ability to create and pull off moves that leave NHL players gasping. This is a great sign. These people play and coach all the best players in the world.
