Lane Hutson: second-best defender in his draft, according to Scott Wheeler
Need I remind you that the Montreal Canadiens have a host of exciting prospects?
Obviously, on forward, Habs fans have been thinking of Ivan Demidov for the past few months, and rightly so.
In front of the net, we immediately think of Jacob Fowler, and on defense, well, it’s obviously Lane Hutson who comes to mind first.
The 20-year-old defenseman truly represents the Habs’ offensive future on defense.
That may sound like an odd statement, but I’m sure you get the idea.
Hutson is an absolutely electrifying and spectacular offensive defenseman whom the Habs were miraculously lucky enough to draft late in the second round (62ᵉ overall) in 2022.
It was the young defenseman’s small stature that made him slide so much, but in the end, today, Hutson is considered a steal.
It’s not every year that the Habs get the chance to draft the second-best defenseman in the draft at 62ᵉ.
Because yes, Hutson, according to the renowned Scott Wheeler, is none other than the second-best defenseman in the 2022 draft.
Indeed, on the latest episode of The Athletic Hockey Show podcast, the renowned prospect analyst places only Slovak defenseman Simon Nemec, drafted 2ᵉ overall, ahead of Lane Hutson.
So that means that, according to Wheeler, Hutson is better than, brace yourself, 16 defensemen drafted ahead of him, listed below.
The list includes big NHL prospects such as David Jiricek, Seamus Casey and Tristan Luneau, as well as prospects with one season of NHL experience such as Pavel Mintyukov with the Ducks and Kevin Korchinski with the Blackhawks.
In short, even with only two (very interesting) games of NHL experience, Wheeler sees Hutson ahead of all these guys.
This speaks volumes about Wheeler’s high regard for the Habs prospect, whom he sees as one of the most talented young players in the world.
There’s a reason Wheeler ranked Hutson 5ᵉ in his list of favorites to win the Calder Trophy in 24-25.
For the analyst, the only small hitch, and therefore his only small concern with Hutson, is his defensive play.
Wheeler wants to see how Hutson fares defensively this year, night after night, against the opposition’s best.
This will partly determine whether Hutson will manage to play more than 20 minutes in his career, or whether he will have to settle for around 17 minutes per game.
Either way, Wheeler sees Hutson scoring by the ton, perhaps even reaching the 70-point mark in his career.
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