Canadiens Defenceman Hutson Thrived In Playoffs

Now that phenom Lane Hutson has completed his first season in the NHL, not to mention his first taste of playoff action, it’s a perfect time to evaluate his impressive one-year evolution.

As we discussed earlier in the season, the main reason Hutson’s underlying numbers were underwhelming for the first stretch of the year was due to his usage. He was paired with someone who struggled to control the play all year, and consequently, his number suffered.

ON TOPIC: Canadiens  Trophy Talk – Why Lane Hutson Clearly Deserves The Calder Trophy

However, the moment Hutson was promoted and used alongside a different defensive partner, his possession statistics underwent a stark transformation, confirming that the early-career stats hold very little value when projecting his long-term potential.

Oh, and he also produced more points as a rookie defenceman than 99.99 percent of the blueliners that came before him. And that’s not just Canadiens defencemen, that’s including every single defenceman who has played at least one year in the NHL.

It’s one of the main reasons most informed fans expect Hutson to easily capture the Calder Trophy.

His competition had decent years in a vacuum, but Hutson had a dominant year from a historical standpoint.

Playoff Prowess

Heading into the series with the Washington Capitals, it was clear that Hutson would have his hands full. The Capitals were the top team in the Eastern Conference, with their first and second lines emerging as some of the best combinations in the NHL.

We shouldn’t sell Alexandre Carrier and Mike Matheson short, as they did absorb some very difficult minutes versus top Capitals players, but their results were miles away from those produced by Hutson while playing with Kaiden Guhle.

1 – Lane Hutson led all Canadiens players in scoring, with five points in just five games. Alongside Cole Caufield (4 points), Hutson was the only Canadiens player who managed to produce more than two points in the series.

60.5 – Hutson controlled over 60 percent of the shots while he was on the ice, the top result among all Canadiens defencemen. I’d usually suggest it’s an encouraging sign, but we’re beyond encouragement at this point. Hutson elevated his play when the team needed it most, and he still managed to produce more than all his teammates despite having no professional playoff experience.

61.5 – The 21-year-old defenceman also had the best expected goals percentage (61.5%) on the blue line, trailing only captain Nick Suzuki (62.6%) among all Canadiens players.

87.5 – With all due respect to Hutson’s undeniable potential to become a top-3 defenceman in the league, head coach Martin St-Louis played a big part in ensuring he was comfortable during his rookie season, playing big minutes while learning on the fly, and not having to worry that a single mistake would lead to a downtick in ice time. In that vein, full marks to St-Louis for using Hutson in a situation conducive to scoring, which included starting 87.5 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone.

12 – It’s a tired joke at this point, because Hutson has dominated at every single level in his young career, but some were expecting the young defenceman to be overwhelmed by the physicality that is tied into playoff hockey. As per tradition, Hutson proved the few people still grasping at straws in a desperate attempt to denigrate his talent wrong. In five games, the Capitals only managed to hit him 12 times, the lowest number among the top-four defencemen in the lineup. (Alexandre Carrier: 26, Kaiden Guhle: 24, Mike Matheson 15)

All Montreal Canadiens and Lane Hutson statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.