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]

View attachment 916209
View attachment 916208



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.

 

[Intangir]

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.

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 Id 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.

 

[The Last Red]

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

You’re being very generous with yourself by calling that a “point.” It’s more like “I don’t have anything else so I’ll pull this out of my butt.”