Yeah, he keeps finding open forwards and making sneaky, accurate passes. I'm going to wait a bit to see how the league adapts to his quick, jerky pivots, but this kid's obviously on a different tier than anyone else we've got.
If we had more players who could one-time Hutson's passes, he'd be leading all rookies in points.
It's not the jerks per se, but his constant baiting. The baiting itself could become predictable, but like any good poker player, he'll keep them on their toes by switching it up between bluffing and actually pursuing his motions. All he needs is for an opposing player to hesitate for a fraction of a second and he'll go the opposite way. Very few players will be able to overcome his constant baiting. He even fooled Crosby this way.
Three fundamental things work together for him to do this so often. 1- He reads the space on the ice extremely well and keeps positioning himself in accordance to that space between players so he can bait them/control their flow/reaction. 2- he has a wide arsenal of moves to sell false intentions. Whether it's his shoulders, head, hips, legs or arms, he uses them all to fake intent. 3- his puck control is top notch.
We might worry about players adapting to him, but I'm personally not worried about that, because Lane will also adapt to them. Learn their habits, learn their shortcomings. This process will advantage him much more than his opposition.
His puck control and anticipation are so good, he'll remain unpredictable for a long time. He's a very special player. I remember a few months ago, watching the WCF when McDavid made that ridiculous side cut through two players to score in the slot, and thinking, there's only McDavid who can do this shit. Lane did almost the exact same move a few weeks ago, but it ended on the post.
I didn't think he would be
this good.