When we learned that Mike Matheson could not participate in last Tuesday’s game, many thought that Lane Hutson would finally be promoted to the first power play.
Fans were very happy to see that Lane Hutson was finally used for the entirety of each AN.
Unfortunately, it was far from the young defender’s best match and we felt him nervous for the first time in his young professional career.
After all, he was already playing big minutes in an important offensive role and he suddenly found himself with the enormous responsibility of being the quarterback of each « power play ».
Players who spend two minutes on each power play are rare, and they are generally superstars.
For a rookie, it’s even less common.
Ultimately, Matheson was unable to participate in Wednesday’s game either and Hutson once again had the difficult task of rolling first power play at only 20 years old.
Personally, while I was happy to see the youngster’s power play usage spike with Matheson’s absence, we have to be careful not to burn him.
It’s too much pressure, especially for a rookie defenseman playing for the Montreal Canadiens.
Former CH head coach Michel Therrien thinks so too, he who has already dealt with an electrifying offensive defender.
In his column today on the show JiC, Therrien talked about a pact he had with PK Subban during his Norris year.
“I knew that [Erik] Karlsson played almost two minutes of the power play. I wanted to help PK as best I could. After the first wave, I told him he could stay and after about 1 minute and 45 seconds, he had to come back to the bench. » – Michel Therrien
And it paid off, as Subban won the Norris Trophy that year.
On the other hand, Therrien wanted to clarify that the cases of Subban and young Hutson are different.
Subban was already a veteran and had established status throughout the NHL, while Hutson is only a 20-year-old rookie.
Therrien returned to the small defenseman’s poor game on Tuesday, mentioning that his overuse hurt more than anything else.
“The problem is the message you send. A little guy of 20 years old, you give him the two units… that’s putting a lot of pressure on him. And he handled that pressure badly. At least he answered well yesterday. »
However, we understood that Hutson adapts very quickly and in Wednesday’s match, he recovered very well, collecting an assist on Nick Suzuki’s winning goal.
Already 12 assists for the rookie this season, that’s not nothing.
All Habs fans are eagerly awaiting the day when Hutson finally scores his first NHL goal.
Hopefully it happens soon.
In burst
– Let’s be patient with Dach.
– To read.
– To listen.
– Indeed.
