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Canadiens Prospects Watch: Lane Hutson Is A Very Special Player

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1 year ago

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Montreal Canadiens prospect Lane Hutson goal Habs news

When it comes to Montreal Canadiens prospects this season, fans have been treated to an all-you-can-eat buffet of highlights

But there’s one Habs prospect who has managed to stand out in the crowd, owing to a special skillset that has allowed him to dominate the NCAA ranks, producing one of the most improbable scoring rates in collegiate hockey history.

Look At Him Go

Lane Hutson has set a certain standard when it comes to his rookie production, starting the season with a three-point game against Bentley, only to continuously push the limits of what can be expected from an 18-year-old defenceman in the NCAA.

Hutson earned his eighth and ninth multi-point games of the season in back-to-back games against Maine, pushing his season totals to an impressive nine goals and 18 assists in just 22 games.

He also extended his scoring streak to seven games.

To give you a better appreciation of his ridiculous scoring rate, we simply need to compare his points-per-game ratio to some of his NCAA counterparts.

For example, the third overall pick in the 2022 Draft, is Logan Cooley.

With 12 goals and 18 assists in 24 games, Cooley is having a great year, the type of rookie results that all but guarantee a long NHL career.

Cooley is currently scoring 1.25 points per game, as a forward.

Hutson, who was chosen 58th spots behind Cooley, is one multi-point game away from surpassing Cooley, with an impressive 1.23 points per game ratio.

Sean Farrell, one of the Canadiens’ top prospects, is a few years older than Hutson, and even though he’s producing career-best numbers, and ranks among the best players in the collegiate ranks with 1.53 points per game, is just a few spots ahead of Hutson on the NCAA PPG leaderboard.

With 27 points on the season, Hutson is on the cusp of cracking the NCAA’s top 10 scorers list and is currently tied for third in the league with four-game winning goals, connoting that he’s not just playing excellent, jaw-dropping hockey once-in-a-while, he’s playing his best when the game is on the line.

Unsurprisingly, he leads all NCAA defencemen in scoring.

And though we hesitated to compare his production to other NCAA greats that enjoyed a successful season as an 18-year-old earlier this season, now that we have a healthy sample size, we can get a better, more sustainable projection of his potential by pro-rating his scoring pace to a full 34-game season.

The results aren’t just encouraging, they paint the picture of a phenom that should have never fallen to the second round.

Canadiens Hutson PPG

 

With the torrid scoring comes an elevated sense of confidence, which is on clear display whenever Hutson decides to go for a spin in the offensive zone, one of his favourite activities.

He also has an affinity for walking the blue line as if he was dancing on a marshmallow cloud filled with velvet, swede, and velour.

 

Simply put, there’s never been a player as talented as Hutson among Canadiens prospects.

He’s a rare talent that is yet to scratch the surface of his incredible potential.

Remember Max Pacioretty? He spent one year in the NCAA and went on to become one of the Canadiens’ best goal-scorers.

Hutson is on pace to obliterate his points-per-game ratio.

As an 18-year-old.

An 18-year-old defenceman.

 

More news and highlights from Montreal Canadiens prospects

  • Sean Farrell is on absolute fire for the Harvard Crimson. After earning just four points in his first five games, the 21-year-old has graced the scoresheet 25 times in 15 games, including a pair of two-point efforts this weekend against Yale and Brown.

  • Logan Mailloux produced three assists against Cedrick Guindon and Owen Sound, pushing his season totals to 13 goals and 18 assists in 32 games. You could even argue he deserved more than just three assists, seeing as he took eight shots on net.

 

  • Hutson’s Boston University teammate, Luke Tuch, has also found his scoring rhythm of late, earning three goals in his last four games.

  • The last time we checked up on Riley Kidney, the Gatineau Olympiques forward was fresh off a five-point effort for his new team. Kidney followed it up with a four-point effort the following game, including two goals. He also earned his second game-winning goal in just six games with Gatineau, thanks to a slick breakaway effort.

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