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Player Discussion Lane Hutson: Part 3 - Calder Edition

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Lane Hutson, D, Montreal Canadiens: Hutson, 21, has certainly earned himself Calder Trophy consideration as NHL rookie of the year. A second-round pick (No. 62) at the 2022 draft, he leads all NHL rookies in points (59), assists (54), power-play points (25), blocked shots (109) and time on ice (22:37) in 73 games. He's in the 95th percentile in skating distance by NHL players at 243.01 miles, per NHL EDGE statistics. Since Dec. 1, Hutson is third among all NHL defensemen 46 points (five goals, 41 assists) in 50 games despite playing the 48th-most minutes (22:23).

"I think his compete level and his passion for the game, I think it starts there with him," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "I knew he was a very good offensive player; I've seen him play for many years now, but I think nobody was sure if he could defend in this league. And for me from Day 1, the way I saw him compete defensively for a guy his size and his offensive talents, for me that's what I'm most impressed about."
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www.nhl.com

Rookie Watch: Hutson, Kasper among top 1st-year players in Atlantic Division | NHL.com

Canadiens defenseman in scoring lead; Red Wings center has most goals since Jan. 1
www.nhl.com www.nhl.com
 
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Some quotes from todays 32-thoughts on the Calder race:

"As time goes on, it's becoming impossible to ignore Lane Hutson as a front runner."
"Watching Hutson play against Florida on Sunday, I don't know how you couldn't vote for him, especially if they make it. He looks fantastic."
"Wolf has been great. Celebrini has been good. Michkov has been very good, he's been hot lately. To me it's Hutson or Wolf. If you look at Calgary's underlying numbers [...] Wolf has been incredible for them. They're a tem that doesn't score very much. And he has them right there."
"We'll see how this goes for Hutson and Montreal, but right now he's my guy."

Starts at about the 15 minute mark.
 
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26Mats said:
I don't remember too many posters saying definitively he wouldn't be good defensively.

But there were question Mark's about how his size and skating style would translate to the NHL game. I don't see too many question Mark's lately. Even snake boiler who called him a gadget player at the beginning, now ranks him ahead of Suzuki, and just behind Demidov, as the best assets we have.
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I’d say the majority said he’d struggle defensively. I tried with some others today that dude was pretty strong for his size and defence wasn’t a glaring issue and more times than not looked pretty good.
 
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dackelljuneaubulis02 said:
I’d say the majority said he’d struggle defensively. I tried with some others today that dude was pretty strong for his size and defence wasn’t a glaring issue and more times than not looked pretty good.
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The loud minority was that he had a small butt and couldn't skate backwards.
 
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Adriatic said:
As good as Lane's been this season, the thing I am most surprised about is his overall defensive play. I saw all the highlights in College so I new the talent was there, but his defense is really good too. I read so much crap about how the defensive side of the game would be the thing holding him back for being elite. The way he handles defending against bigger players at his size and weight is actually the thing that impresses me the most about his game. His stick work while defending, the poise with the puck in the defensive zone...all elite stuff.
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He is good and quick enough to get back and fix his own mistakes , at least. That's already more than i was expecting from a rookie player of his type at first.
 
dackelljuneaubulis02 said:
To be fair, I was with @Estimated_Prophet about the backwards skating but definitely not in his overall appraisal of him.
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I was always steadfast in the fact that I wanted to draft him and that he had great offensive potential. It was just the blind fanboyism that got in the way of rational discussion.

Hutson has surpassed my expectations as a defender as his angles and routes are incredible and he has dramatically improved his back skating even from where it was early this season.

I never denied his skill or his work ethic but I was absolutely correct about how atrocious his back skating was but I always allowed for his elite competitiveness and work ethic to eventually fix the issue.

He has absolutely shown that he will be able to play higher in the lineup than I had thought was likely. He was a physical anomaly and there had never been a player of his stature make it as a top pairing dman....even the smallest examples were bigger than him but his competitive streak is astonishing and thus far has him on track to be a great dman.
 
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Estimated_Prophet said:
I was always steadfast in the fact that I wanted to draft him and that he had great offensive potential. It was just the blind fanboyism that got in the way of rational discussion.

Hutson has surpassed my expectations as a defender as his angles and routes are incredible and he has dramatically improved his back skating even from where it was early this season.

I never denied his skill or his work ethic but I was absolutely correct about how atrocious his back skating was but I always allowed for his elite competitiveness and work ethic to eventually fix the issue.

He has absolutely shown that he will be able to play higher in the lineup than I had thought was likely. He was a physical anomaly and there had never been a player of his stature make it as a top pairing dman....even the smallest examples were bigger than him but his competitive streak is astonishing and thus far has him on track to be a great dman.
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That’s fair. You didn’t outright hate him though I still think you undervalued him.

And in the end the blind fanboys were right. Hell even they undervalued him.
 
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I wanted to compare his season to other rookie defensemen, particularly in terms of age. If he ends up with 64+ points, only four players will have matched or exceeded his point total while being the same age or younger. Gary Suter was in his fourth season after being drafted (assuming an 18-year-old draft age), and Chris Chelios was in his fifth. Players like Murphy, Housley, and Bourque were younger, while Leetch was the same age.

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WeThreeKings said:
It was injuries that stemmed from him getting obsessed with body building.. it ruined his back. Therrien probably influenced that a lot.
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He had a serious neck injury in his last game with us. He had injuries going forward after that. Was still a beast in Nashville for a couple of years. Easily their best player in that cup run. Scored the opening goal in the first game of the finals and it was called back.

He was a total gamer. An absolute beast. A guy I’d put up there with Chelios. And I’d still take Hutson going forward.

What Hutson’s doing at 20 is just crazy.
 
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