More reading. Less throwing around buzzwords like gaslighting and manipulating.
It's right there. Now, even highlighted in bold to help i guess. Trade value is different from value to a team.
A prospect like Hutson pragmatically has very little trade value. Certainly relative to what he's
potentially worth to the Canadiens organization and their fans. No other team is going to take on the hundred miles wide projection range of Hutson at anything near what the Habs would want for it.
The Habs are invested in Hutson for a very late 2nd, practically 3rd round pick value. You could swap him for that now. But i'd consider that "very little value". Wouldn't you? He simply doesn't have the pedigree, or the narrowing of projection ranges to be worth any more than the gamble he was initially worth. And no, his "bone age" doesn't substantially move the needle on that.
It's paid off in collegiate success in spades...but the question with Hutson was never if he'd be a good amateur player. The question has always been...how will a tiny roving positionless player fare in making the jump to the NHL. Until he does that...he's as much a wildcard in "value" as the 62nd pick he was worth then. Doesn't make any sense for Montreal to trade him for "very little value" in the meantime. They're already in it.
If/when he establishes that he's truly got solid NHL Top-4 ability...his value will skyrocket to adjust accordingly...to the point that it flips upsidedown. Where it still doesn't make any sense for Montreal to trade him, because nobody will be able to offer what it'd take to pry that sort of player away from them.
All prospects have an element of this, but Hutson is such an oddball prospect that it's intensely magnified. It basically makes talking about him as a trade chip an utterly pointless discussion. Which we're now having argumentatively for some reason.
When i think you'd generally agree...that it makes absolutely zero sense to trade Lane Hutson at this point. The reason being...the only thing you'd deal him for, is something that no team would ever even remotely consider giving up for him.
The more appropriate Canucks comparison here, would be Adam Gaudette. He was 5th round pick. He had a very strong collegiate trajectory. Culminating with a Hobey Baker win. But ultimately...he was still a prospect of very limited trade value, until he proved he could make that jump to the NHL and translate his play. Which he never really could.