2023-10-30 17:55:00
Lane Hutson made many eyes widen last year with his 48 points in 39 games in his rookie season in the university ranks. The Montreal Canadiens prospect picked up where he left off with 5 points in his first 5 games in a Boston University Terriers uniform, but beyond the numbers, Hutson is fine-tuning his defensive game and considers himself much more confident than at this time last year. “I think my defensive game has improved, I’m working on it and my play readings are better than they were a year ago. » adds the man who should be the cornerstone of the massive American attack at the next World Junior Championships in Sweden.
Terriers head coach, former NHL player Jay Pandolfo is full of praise for his 19-year-old rearguard. “Lane has always been special offensively but I feel he is much more comfortable in defensive missions. He uses his stick a lot more to cut plays and the space he leaves between him and the disc carrier “the gap” is much more limited this year. »
For fun, last Saturday evening, I placed a non-scientific survey on the “X” network. I asked Internet users if, in their opinion, Hutson was going to play at the Bell Center in a year to the day in a Canadiens uniform. The result was that 61% of the 700 respondents saw Hutson making the jump at age 20 next year like Kaiden Guhle did last year, which certainly made the principal smile interested: “We’ll see, but my goal is definitely to play for the Canadiens one day! »
Un second Adam Fox?
The comparison game is always misleading and it is enough to place the name of a known star player next to a young prospect for fans to get excited. The fact remains that Pandolfo (not a CH supporter) sees in Hutson an emulator of Adam Fox, the 5-foot-11 defenseman for the New York Rangers. “He is one of a kind and his intelligence and vision for the game is so above average. If I had to choose a player that reminds me of him I would say Adam Fox who I coached once morest with the Boston Bruins. »
Fox also went through the American college circuits, playing three seasons with the Harvard University Crimson. Fox made the jump at 21 and over the past two seasons, he has put up over 70 points in the Big Apple.
Hutson is a bit more frail than Fox at 5-foot-9, but he outperformed the other’s stats at 18 by amassing 45 points upon coming out of the U.S. development program last year. In 2016-2017, Fox had 40 points and only 6 goals in his first university season while Hutson hit the target 15 times last year.
Hutson had a small role last year with the American junior team during the World Championship in Halifax, collecting 1 goal and 4 points in 7 games. We’re betting that this year, with Luke Hughes and Ryan Ufko not returning, he will be the quarterback of the massive American attack and will have an impact on his country’s success in Sweden.
Hutson was part of the American under-18 team which won the silver medal in Germany in April 2022. The one who became a 2nd round pick of the Canadians a few months later had collected 8 assists in 6 matches in an American team which had scored an impressive total of 47 goals.
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