Prospect Info: Lane Hutson Part 2

[WeThreeKings]

The big concern for me was always going to be whether his moves on the blueline would work at the NHL level and he literally got an assist on one of his first shifts doing that.. and even in game 2, when Detroit had a chance to see what he could do, he still was able to create many chances with it, including the 4th goal on the Slaf tip where a seasoned Detroit forward literally said 'f*** this, I'm hanging back' and still got exposed.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Off the top of my head, some takes we heard about Hutson that are already looking terrible:

- "Hutson won't be more than a 3rd pairing pp specialist"
- "Hutson's shimmies won't work in the NHL"
- "Hutson won't be able to produce well in the NHL because he's not an elite skater like Quinn Hughes"
- "Hutson should be converted to a forward"
- "Should trade Hutson"

The first four had varying degrees of merit.
The last one was utterly asinine.

 

[Matthew McConaughay]

This kids going to be a star. Just these two games have shown it. Haven’t felt this way watching a rookie since Subban came up.

He's one notch higher offensively than Subban, you saw how easily he maneuvered around the opponent in their zone, don't know if they will adjust to him, but his hands and shiftiness is sick.

 

[PavelBrendl]

Kid's a shifty little f***er.
He's actually a really unique player in the way he moves and handles the puck, and despite my tendency to be very "wait and see" with prospects, I think the superstar upside is clear.

Really looking forward to seeing how his overall game rounds out over a larger sample size, but holy shit what an exciting young player.

 

[CheldishGamibno]

He's one notch higher offensively than Subban, you saw how easily he maneuvered around the opponent in their zone, don't know if they will adjust to him, but his hands and shiftiness is sick.

Yep, teams will adjust for sure next year, Detroit probably didn't know him that much and didn't have time to work on a way to counter him in the last 2 games.
Though I'm not too worried with Hutson playing with Suz, CC and Slaf, they ooze IQ. If teams put too much emphasis on him, they'll get f***** by the other 3.

 

[Mrb1p]

Yes. The speed is slower and the players aren’t as big.

The average size of AHLers is 6'1'05 and 195 lbs. That,s .025 less and 2 less lbs.

The difference isn't noticeable.

 

[habdynasty]

There is no AHL in Hutson.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Yep, teams will adjust for sure next year, Detroit probably didn't know him that much and didn't have time to work on a way to counter him in the last 2 games.
Though I'm not too worried with Hutson playing with Suz, CC and Slaf, they ooze IQ. If teams put too much emphasis on him, they'll get f***** by the other 3.

Exactly, if teams really pressure him that’s just going to open things up in the slot for the forwards.

Think Hutson and Slaf have something going. Slaf almost had another goal on a Hutson tip earlier in the game. Hutson seemed to be looking for that and Detroit pressuring Hutson would just benefit Slaf.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Not sure how smooth his transition over a long season will be and its true he'll need to improve his skating more to be really great, but he's flashing high end ability to both take and create space which is what's most needed to overcome his size. His vision, hands and creativity are off the charts.

 

[Rapala]

Yep, teams will adjust for sure next year, Detroit probably didn't know him that much and didn't have time to work on a way to counter him in the last 2 games.
Though I'm not too worried with Hutson playing with Suz, CC and Slaf, they ooze IQ. If teams put too much emphasis on him, they'll get f***** by the other 3.

This is not going to happen.
Teams cannot adjust to the unpredictability of the top end puck movers at the back.
You tell me which teams have adjusted to any of the top guys like Hughes or Fox etc...
If you watch Hutson it's easy to see he always has two or even three moves in his head for any given situation.
It's special it can't be taught and it's very hard to defend. Teams will try to contain but if they attack they will get burnt.

 

[EveryDay]

If this kid put the effort in the gym this summer(and I think he will), It's going to be really hard to cut him at the next training camp.

Honestly, he's probably the skillest defenceman with the puck on his stick MTL have seen since Markov. He's going to turn this PP top 5 without a doubt in my mind.

Can't believe how AWESOME this 2022 draft could turn out to be!

Slafkovski-Hutson-Beck-Engstrom-Mesar

This is sick even through I'm not Mesar biggest fan.

 

[Matthew McConaughay]

Exactly, if teams really pressure him that’s just going to open things up in the slot for the forwards.

Think Hutson and Slaf have something going. Slaf almost had another goal on a Hutson tip earlier in the game. Hutson seemed to be looking for that and Detroit pressuring Hutson would just benefit Slaf.

I think Caufield will benefit too, he can do those lateral passes to him, like he did with Celebrini.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Purely with the puck on his stick, he was as electric as PK at his peak.
Arguably more so but let's say it was about even.

What's more impressive is that we didn't see that PK in the NHL until his 2nd pro eligible season.

Hutson did that while still being in his junior eligible season. That's insane.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Unless Hutson has a bad camp, he's gonna make the team

 

[WeThreeKings]

Unless Hutson has a bad camp, he's gonna make the team

I'm not surprised, his two games were just so good.

 

[Pacciosoftie]

He's one notch higher offensively than Subban, you saw how easily he maneuvered around the opponent in their zone, don't know if they will adjust to him, but his hands and shiftiness is sick.

Agree. Main differences for me are that Subban had a much better slap shot and used his body really well to shield opponents from the puck when rushing. He was also great along the boards. However, Lane is much more agile and shifty with better stick work. I’m not sure Lane will score a lot of goals, at least off slappers or one timers but he sure as hell will rack up a ton of assists. You can already see he’s a difference maker like Subban was. I think the single most similar thing between them is their confidence and drive in their game. Subban was a big time gamer and so is Lane.

 

[MarioLeMoose]

This kid is really f***ing good man

The big concern for me was always going to be whether his moves on the blueline would work at the NHL level and he literally got an assist on one of his first shifts doing that.. and even in game 2, when Detroit had a chance to see what he could do, he still was able to create many chances with it, including the 4th goal on the Slaf tip where a seasoned Detroit forward literally said 'f*** this, I'm hanging back' and still got exposed.

Dancing the blueline like that in a 3-3 tie late in the 3rd in his 2nd career game lol unbelievable.

 

[Scintillating10]

Should be on opening night roster next season.

 

[Supersonic]

Short Kings up

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Agree. Main differences for me are that Subban had a much better slap shot and used his body really well to shield opponents from the puck when rushing. He was also great along the boards. However, Lane is much more agile and shifty with better stick work. I’m not sure Lane will score a lot of goals, at least off slappers or one timers but he sure as hell will rack up a ton of assists. You can already see he’s a difference maker like Subban was. I think the single most similar thing between them is their confidence and drive in their game. Subban was a big time gamer and so is Lane.

It's really interesting to me that there's seemingly been so little PK comparisons with Lane up until these two games. I've watched him plenty and it didn't seem to pop up in my mind at all.

But then you see him in the Habs uniform playing like that and the first thing I think of is PK 2.0. Seems like it's been the same for everyone else.

 

[Doublechin]

They need to push the best available trainer on him, gave him stick to him like crazy glue this summer with the goal of gaining 5-10 pounds of muscle

 

[salbutera]

 

[Rockomax]

I can only imagine how much hatred Michel Therrien would have had for the kid.

 

[Canadiens98]

We need someone who can be a rock beside him. For now, keeping Savard seems to have been the best move possible.

 

[larek]

He'll be ready for NHL in 3 years if he can maintain this pace while adding weight.
2023: NCAA sophmore
2024: AHL full season
2025: NHL rookie

He will be a hab again next season
He looked better in 2 games than most of our D crew