Canadiens Lane Hutson Could Surpass 36-Year NCAA Milestone

Montreal Canadiens prospect Lane Hutson has had a fantastic season in the NCAA, but he has the chance to make some history on Thursday.

The Montreal Canadiens’ 2nd-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft has exploded onto the scene this season for the Boston University Terriers.

A highly coveted prospect that slid in the draft due to concerns over his size, the talented defenceman has not only proven his doubters wrong; he’s making them eat his dust.

After a very compelling regular season with the Terriers, where he led them in scoring and ice time, Hutson turned the heat up in the Hockey.

Lane Hutson not only opened the scoring for the Terriers in their final game against Merrimack, but also scored the championship-clinching goal in overtime to give Boston University its 10th Hockey East division title.

Lane Hutson scores his second of the night to clinch the Hockey East Championship for the Terriers! @TerrierHockey | @hockey_east pic.twitter.com/RvE83PrGjH

— NESN (@NESN) March 19, 2023

His incredible performances down the stretch earned him the title of Hockey East Tournament MVP, to the surprise of nobody.

With his two goals in the game, Lane Hutson now has 14 goals and 33 assists for 47 points in 36 games on the season.

Hutson’s 47-point season has tied Brian Leetch for the best offensive performance for a freshman defenceman in the history of the NCAA, albeit with one less game played than Leetch.

The history-making season is not over yet though, as Hutson will have the opportunity to surpass Leetch’s accomplishments in Boston University’s first game in the NCAA Championships against Western Michigan on March 23 at 2 pm.

If Hutson were to record at least a point in the game, he would have eclipsed Leetch’s totals in the same number of games, making him the most performant freshmen defenceman in modern NCAA history (the last 40 years).

The only players to do better were Craig Redmond with 54 points in 1982-1983 and Curt Giles with 49 points in 1976-1977.

It’s quite an achievement for the 19-year-old, who draft analysts have compared to the likes of Adam Fox and Cale Makar at the same age.

There’s still a long road ahead for the 5’10, 155lbs defender to live up to that hype; but he’s certainly giving Habs fans hope that the organization has finally uncovered another diamond in the rough.