LD Lane Hutson - Montreal Canadiens, NHL (2022, 62nd, MTL) - Part 2

[HabsAddict]

OH NOOOOO...HUTSON IS TOO SMALL

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Annoying guy to play against

 

[Mrfenn92]

OH NOOOOO...HUTSON IS TOO SMALL

Great example

 

[Xirik]

Great example

not really, if you could skate back then you could easily do good since a vast majority of the players in the NHL at the time could barely skate.

I'm pretty confident that today's average in ability to skate among NHL players is way higher.

 

[MoneyManny]

Sure bud. If you want to do the legwork on Thanksgiving.

Start at Nikolai Ehlers rookie year in fantasy stats and check out all the 6 ft or smaller rookies from him to now and how they do the first 20 games vs the rest of the season and check their first 20 games stats vs the rest of the season.

Have fun

You're trying so hard to find an argument against Hutson that this is all you have left? How about being honest and say: "This kid has so far surpassed my expectations" like the rest of us?

 

[MoneyManny]

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Annoying guy to play against

Why are you showing us videos of this kid dominating the ice in the NHL? This guy on HFboards said that he will definitely get tired after 20 games due to his size. Nothin to see here. Bust.

 

[JadedRandom]

not really, if you could skate back then you could easily do good since a vast majority of the players in the NHL at the time could barely skate.

I'm pretty confident that today's average in ability to skate among NHL players is way higher.

You're comparing apples to oranges here.

As well as forgetting that before the '04/'05 lockout heavy, thickset defenders would have been able to hook/cross-check smaller players into oblivion with impunity. Without smarts/skill they'd get "rope-a-doped", poke-checked, and basically neutered by the bigger defenders if they had only speed.

Now, a smart/fast/skilled smallish player as used in the example you decry was/would have been successful despite the harsher rules on small guys from before the lockout.

So yeah, I do not agree with you in that I actually do think the example provided above holds some ground despite inaccuracies on the positions played, the eras, playstyles, skillsets, and more besides.

Now, as for your statement about older-era players' skating abilities, I'll address in 2 parts.

1- Skate technology has come a massive way since then. Real old-timey skates had no ankle support, were less well-balanced than today's skates so you'd need to exert more force/skate while more hunch-backed to get anywhere, were also MUCH heavier from the get-go, and would get wet and absorb moisture so they'd get progressively worse over a game's time.

Especially egregious were goalie pads, made of horses' fur in those days, and they'd weigh close to 15 pounds each near the end of a game from all the water that they'd sponge off the ice as well as not being square to each other. You try being a good modern goaltender in those, with your predominant butterfly (hint: you can't).

To add, my grand-father kept old skates of his from the 50s, I tried them once for fun as a teenager (when they would have still fit my feet) and couldn't skate worth half-a-damn in them as they felt extremely awkward to use vs. my modern ones. I really felt like I couldn't do myself justice on these skates, that the skating techniques I'd been taught were ill-suited to them.

So yeah, gear changes matter a lot. Put modern NHLers in old-time gear and they'd only show a fraction of their current skating speed.

2- I'd also say that you're right as far as pure skating ability being higher now than it used to be. The training that pros get from a young age these days is much more specific, comprehensive, and efficient than it was way back when, which leads to an overall higher level of skating ability. It's plain truth.

Players are always getting better, and will continue doing so untill we eventually reach a point, far-off in the future, where we'll have maxed-out the incremental improvements, physical or otherwise, that players, equipment manufacturers, and coaches bring to the game.

But that's not the issue here. The problem that I have with your post is the way you put things paints all the players from those bygone eras in a bad light, and subtly disrespects them on top of being a bad take.

I've seen other posts from you, and you're usually a better poster than that.

 

[67 others]

You're trying so hard to find an argument against Hutson that this is all you have left? How about being honest and say: "This kid has so far surpassed my expectations" like the rest of us?

I pretty much already said he is going to be a gem and is doing great. I think you are either late to the party or take anything but "he will be Bobby Orr reborn" as an insult.

 

[Andrei79]

The point is, small guys and kids tends to blow their energy early in the season. Use more energy against big guys. And by Game 20 are gassed. Happens every year

Who though ? I can think of plenty of smaller players for whom this isn't true.

 

[danisonfire]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1845497761694662693

 

[samsagat]

Who just won the most recent Norris trophy?

Hutson is the result, not the trend maker.

Hughes and Hutson are not the same.

Hughes game revolve around his fantastic skating prowess. He's one of the better skater in the NHL.

Hutson is more about ruse, prompt direction changes and manipulation.

 

[Washed Up 29YearOld]

Now that the consensus is that Hutson is actually a good player, are people still laughing at my post last offseason saying he’ll challenge for the Calder and get 40-55 pts? The guys laughing at me are flip flopping in this thread. It’s almost as if some posters don’t actually watch the players and parrot other opinions to adopt as their own with no real original opinion or insight.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Now that the consensus is that Hutson is actually a good player, are people still laughing at my post last offseason saying he’ll challenge for the Calder and get 40-55 pts? The guys laughing at me are flip flopping in this thread. It’s almost as if some posters don’t actually watch the players and parrot other opinions to adopt as their own with no real original opinion or insight.

let them be
their comments are clouded by the fears that a team they dislike may have a good player on their hands.

I pay them no mind

 

[izlez]

I wasted way too much time scrolling this thread trying to find all these haters everyone keeps trying to dunk on.

Through 11 pages the hype seemed pretty unanimous

 

[samsagat]

Hutson has played very well to start the year, and has been key in producing offense from nothing, or at least very little room afforded to him.

As a Montreal Canadiens fan I can say that we haven't seen that level of playmaking from our D ever since the days of prime Markov.

But whilst he was "A+" offensively, moreso for a rookie, and very solid in transition, defensively Hutson did get hemmed-in at times in all three games thus far. He also dumped the puck a little more quickly, and generally shied away from contact where our bigger, heftier (and more experienced) defensemen would not.

Hutson has also definitely not been good defending the cycle when it gets installed, but that's in his scouting report and we knew from day 1 that unless he managed to pre-empt plays that it would be the case.

If you really look at his game, then you also notice that Hutson's been cheating a little bit on fast forwards coming at him along the boards by not gapping-up as much and actually backing-off more than your average defender would (allowing easier entries into the zone) given that his back-skating would get a bit exposed if he didn't.

All of which to say that Hutson, as he's said himself, still needs to adapt, improve, and evolve his defensive game.

But with the work ethic, introspective ability, combined with the humbleness, and Hockey IQ that he has chances are that Hutson will get there eventually defensively. And offensively Hutson's already shown to be pretty good, his transition game is similarly already quite polished, so if the defensive problems sort themselves out he'll be a heck of a defenseman.

That's quite a lucid analysis.

Right in the middle of some Habs fans that put make up on his flaws in order to not see them, and the other teams fans that are downplaying his incredible qualities and magnifying his flaws...

Hutson is a special player and it's obvious.

But imho, his flaws, even if he works on them very hard, ensure that he'll never be the best defensive defender out there..

We have to live with it for the better or worse.

But at the end of the day he'll bring far more positive than negative..

 

[samsagat]

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Annoying guy to play against

He upset other teams players and get them away from their game out of frustration
It was obvious here on those two sequences.

2 guys trying to hit him, two failed attempts

Sneaky snake should be the name of his style of play... As he's squirming around like a slimy snake.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1845497761694662693

With no PP1 is insane

 

[Frank Drebin]

Tkachuk was trying to mock Hutson to make him look stupid. Didn't work out as anticipated

 

[HabsAddict]

That's quite a lucid analysis.

Right in the middle of some Habs fans that put make up on his flaws in order to not see them, and the other teams fans that are downplaying his incredible qualities and magnifying his flaws...

Hutson is a special player and it's obvious.

But imho, his flaws, even if he works on them very hard, ensure that he'll never be the best defensive defender out there..

We have to live with it for the better or worse.

But at the end of the day he'll bring far more positive than negative..

I come all the way back from the 60s era.

We had offensive defenseman and light on defensive side all the way back to JC Tremblay. Great to watch, but you didn't depend on them in cup runs.

Same thing for Hutson. He's great to watch, as entertaining as anyone in the NHL...but he's going to lead us to cup runs, but not get us cups. For that, you need a hard core defense and if they can score, extra bonus.

For me, Guhle improving his offense, Mailloux "graduating", Reinbacher showing at least a modest offensive side....those are the ones that can get us cups.

I like Hutson, but i grew up with Robinson, Savard, Lapoint and Chelios as my definition of great DEFENSEMAN.

 

[nergish]

Hughes and Hutson are not the same.

Hughes game revolve around his fantastic skating prowess. He's one of the better skater in the NHL.

Hutson is more about ruse, prompt direction changes and manipulation.

I'm not entirely sure how those are different things, but I'll take your word for it!
I do quite like the player...

 

[Michoulicious]

Could anybody chime in to debate about his real height and his backward skating, for old days sake?

I miss those days.

 

[Boxscore]

Are people still trying to discredit Hutson by claiming he's small? Lmao.

Kucherov (6 ft.) = Greatest passing winger of his generation
Crosby (5-11) = One of the greatest of his generation
Kane (5-10) = Probably the greatest American player in history
Q. Hughes (5-10) = Norris Winner
Fox (5-11) = Norris Winner
Bedard (5-10) = ROTY and consensus next great megastar
Michkov (5-10) = Odds-on favorite for ROTY and pending superstar
Stankoven (5-8) = ROTY candidate and pending superstar

Then...

Hutson (5-10) = "Too small to be great"

 

[SensontheRush]

Are people still trying to discredit Hutson by claiming he's small? Lmao.

Kucherov (6 ft.) = Greatest passing winger of his generation
Crosby (5-11) = One of the greatest of his generation
Kane (5-10) = Probably the greatest American player in history
Q. Hughes (5-10) = Norris Winner
Fox (5-11) = Norris Winner
Bedard (5-10) = ROTY and consensus next great megastar
Michkov (5-10) = Odds-on favorite for ROTY and pending superstar
Stankoven (5-8) = ROTY candidate and pending superstar

Then...

Hutson (5-10) = "Too small to be great"

He's a very generous 5ft9. Still shouldn't be a hurdle for him.

 

[Xirik]

Are people still trying to discredit Hutson by claiming he's small? Lmao.

Kucherov (6 ft.) = Greatest passing winger of his generation
Crosby (5-11) = One of the greatest of his generation
Kane (5-10) = Probably the greatest American player in history
Q. Hughes (5-10) = Norris Winner
Fox (5-11) = Norris Winner
Bedard (5-10) = ROTY and consensus next great megastar
Michkov (5-10) = Odds-on favorite for ROTY and pending superstar
Stankoven (5-8) = ROTY candidate and pending superstar

Then...

Hutson (5-10) = "Too small to be great"

Q. Hughes
Fox
Spurgeon

Comparing him to smaller defensemen would be the smarter option.

 

[Boxscore]

He's a very generous 5ft9. Still shouldn't be a hurdle for him.

90% of NHL players are graded on a curve. I'm going by NHL.com. They list Shayne Gostisbehere as 5-11 and I'm 5-10 and stood next to him at an event and was probably an inch taller than him.

Regardless, for years, people insisted Gretzky would crash and burn early on because he was "small and frail," which now seems insane. If Hutson doesn't live up to his billing, it will be due to injury, not size.

And, for those insisting his size is the reason he'll be injured, all we need to do is look at Barkov and Laine who are huge and out injured. Or, someone like Dougie Hamilton who is a hulk but always seems to be injured.

Talent is talent. When you combine great talent with speed, IQ, and heart, the player will excel, despite his size.