Canadiens Hutson Projection Improves with Norris Votes

It’s been a great week for Montreal Canadiens phenom Lane Hutson.

He started out by taking home a well-deserved Calder Trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League’s best rookie. It wasn’t particularly close either, as Hutson dominated the votes. With all due respect to the other rookies in the running, they simply weren’t producing at a historic rate, whereas Hutson’s broke and set numerous records.

Simply put, rookies such as Dustin Wolf, Macklin Celebrini, and Matvei Michkov had good years, while Hutson had one of the best rookie seasons in NHL history.

Lane Hutson Norris Trophy Votes

On Wednesday, the NHL revealed the votes for the Norris Trophy, awarded to the top defenceman in the league. Cale Makar once again took home the trophy, and you’d be hard-pressed to argue it was a mistake. The 5’11” All-Star scored an impressive 30 goals to go along with his 62 assists, good for 92 points in 82 games.

Columbus Blue Jackets defender Zack Werenski finished second, while Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks was third.

As for Hutson, no one realistically expected him to win the Norris Trophy, at least not this year, but he did garner a fair amount of votes. Hutson finished ninth, with one third-place vote under his belt. This means he finished ahead of many high-end defencemen, including Adam Fox, Evan Bouchard, and Devon Toews.

Lane Hutson finished 9th in Norris trophy voting pic.twitter.com/8WHdStavgj

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) June 11, 2025

Montreal Canadiens Brass Tacks

All things considered, Hutson’s presence in the top-10 was justified. While there’s been a lot of contrived criticism regarding how he produces, the fact remains that his excellence went beyond what you would reasonably expect from a first-year player.

Not only did Hutson finish tied for sixth in defenceman scoring with 66 points, only seven defencemen produced more primary assists (all-situations), which goes to show the discussing regarding his secondary assists is nothing more than white noise.

It’s also worth noting that Hutson was only placed on the top powerplay unit roughly midway through the year, a situation that mitigated his overall production rate.

We do have to manage expectations going forward, especially since there are no guarantees Hutson will put together a dominant sophomore season. However, it’s hard not to project what Hutson could do with prime minutes right off the bat, not to mention a defensive partner that is well-suited to play with an elite player,

After all, 2024-25 was a learning season for Hutson.

He progressed on the fly while absorbing key minutes, a difficult proposal for any defenceman.

With a little more confidence, not to mention a heap of experience, 2025-26 could end up being yet another historic season for the best player of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

A perfect pass by Lane Hutson leads to this Nick Suzuki goal. Tie game. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/trh5cbi4RX

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) November 30, 2024