Canadiens Prospect Lane Hutson Breaks Longtime NCAA Record

Montreal Canadiens prospect Lane Hutson is having the type of season players dream of.

The 18-year-old defenceman wasted no time making his mark in Boston University’s game against Western Michigan in the Manchester Regional. He scored his 15th goal of the year to put the Terriers up 1-0 in the first period.

Who else? Lane Hutson (#GoHabsGo) opens the scoring for Boston University in the Manchester Regional.

Jay O'Brien (#FueledByPhilly) and Ethan Phillips (#LGRW) the assists on the play.#NCAATournament pic.twitter.com/NLwOxG1plU

— EP Rinkside (@EPRinkside) March 23, 2023

The goal pushed Huton’s season totals to 15 goals and 33 assists, good for 48 points in 37 games.

It’s a fantastic production rate, which isn’t just an encouraging sign for the Canadiens prospect, it also happens to be the best scoring rate for an under-19 defenceman in league history.

Brian Leetch was the former reigning champion, having produced nine goals and 38 assists during his lone year in the NCAA with Boston College (1987-1988). That season, Leetch finished fourth in scoring on his team, as Craig Janney led Boston College in scoring with 83 points in 37 games.

There are two other under-19 defencemen who earned more points than Hutson (Craig Redmond and Curt Giles), although it’s fair to say the NCAA hardly resembled a legitimate development league when the aforementioned defencemen played.

For simplicity reasons, we can safely declare no other defenceman has produced as many points as Hutson while playing in the modern version of the NCAA.

Hutson also leads all NCAA defencemen in scoring, has one of the best points-per-game ratios in the NCAA, and leads all Boston University Terriers in scoring.

There were some doubts as to Hutson’s NHL potential prior to the Draft, but given his dominance in his rookie season, there are surely 31 teams kicking themselves for passing on Hutson at the 2022 Draft.

Hutson fell to the second round, drafted 62nd overall by the Canadiens, who were hosting the Draft at the Bell Centre.