Habs Daily: Lane Hutson’s Excellence, Caufield Keeps Scoring

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, highlights, and stories you may have missed on Thursday.

Montreal Canadiens News

We’ve heard a lot of criticism regarding Lane Hutson’s play in the first 10 or so games of the season. Coincidentally, or not, most of it is coming from fans who are supporting Canadian teams in the Atlantic Division, but that’s a good sign. When opposing fans go out of their way to insult players who are clearly doing well, you know there’s a certain element of envy at play. And it’s been a very long time since the Canadiens have had the type of player that evokes such envy around the division.

On that note, Hutson’s underlying numbers are far from great, but much of that has to do with the team he plays for. Everyone in the Canadiens lineup has awful possession stats, such is life on a rebuilding team. Relative to his teammates, Hutson is doing quite good.

Additionally, Hutson is generating a quantity of  high-danger chances that most elite defencemen can only dream of, and if his teammates did a little better job capitalizing on the chances, the Habs would be in much better shape.

Take a gander at the chart below, and then consider how much more compact it would look without Hutson involved. Compared to the rest of the NHL, Hutson’s ability to create high-danger chances via a quick pass in the slot has been off the charts.

This is the thing that, if Hutson can keep up anything close to it, would make him the unicorn that people keep talking about.

Making high-danger passes across the slot is something that even elite offensive defencemen rarely do. So far (so far), Hutson can. https://t.co/ieLRhfsJog pic.twitter.com/WV7wzUC3R4

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) October 31, 2024

Speaking of Hutson, even though some Habs players have failed miserably when it comes to anticipating quality plays from the rookie, he’s still managed to register his name on the scoresheet seven times in 11 games.

With two points tonight for the Habs, Lane Hutson now has 7 points in 11 games this season while averaging 22:48 mins per game.

As an NHL rookie. pic.twitter.com/QWitNwOcX2

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) November 1, 2024

The Montreal Canadiens are regressing, statistically speaking. Even the most optimistic analysts would have suggested the playoffs were probably a stretch this season, but you never want to see a team take a step back in every single stat. On Thursday, the Capitals outchanced them significantly, and even though the Canadiens received contributions from the usual suspects (Hutson, Brendan Gallagher, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki), there were larger issues at play.

Martin St-Louis’ lack of strategic adjustments are also starting to be an issue. He’s a fantastic motivator, but the Habs need a little more structure, it’s painfully obvious. The hybrid defensive system the Canadiens adopted this season is simply not working. Alternating from man-to-man to zone coverage can work, and lots of teams have found success by using it, but it requires every player to make the right decision while also adapting to a fluid situation on the fly. That’s a big ask for the youngest team in the league. To end this little rant on a positive note, it’s encouraging that the team’s best players keep producing. Caufield is back to being tied for the league lead in goals this season (10). [Canadiens Instant Recap: Caufield And Suzuki Score, Habs Lose]

The Laval Rocket are off to a great start this season (6-0-1), and part of that is due to the excellent play from goaltender Jakub Dobes, who has a 4-0-0 record, a 2.25 GAA, and a .910 save percentage. Unfortunately, Dobes is currently listed as day-to-day, but since the Habs pre-emptively added some insurance in the AHL this summer, goaltender Connor Hughes should be able to hold the fort. As an aside, unless a fort is a giant balloon filled with helium, no one will ever hold down a fort. You hold the fort, full stop. Some may suggest this type of pedantry is detrimental in the long run, and that it’s wasted energy, because languages are bound to evolve. And those people are absolutely right, it’s probably time for me to stop holding down the language fort.

Le gardien Jakub Dobeš (bas du corps) est évalué sur une base quotidienne.

Goaltender Jakub Dobeš (lower-body) is day-to-day. pic.twitter.com/ccxBjNREmW

— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) October 31, 2024

National Hockey Now Network

The Flyers currently own the third-worst record in the NHL, and there are a number of scary stats that support this outcome at the moment. Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny may be No. 1 and No. 2 on the Flyers in the goals and points categories, but, between their nine combined goals, neither player has a single one at 5-on-5. [Philadelphia Flyers]

When he first arrived in Boston over the offseason, Elias Lindholm was just what the Bruins were searching for. But he’s had a hard time producing since the start of the year. [Boston Bruins]

The special warm up jerseys worn by the Florida Panthers as a tribute to the late Johnny Gaudreau on Oct. 15 in Columbus are now available through an online auction for charity. [Florida Panthers]