With his 19 assists in 28 games and his average playing time of 22:54 per game, we sometimes forget that Lane Hutson is a 20-year-old rookie.
“It’s impressive at his age to enter the National League and be able to do what he does,” said David Savard. He is effective playing above 20 minutes per game against the best players on the other side. He has a lot of confidence and that transfers onto the ice. It’s fun to see how much of an immediate impact he was able to have with us.”
His talent and rigor delight fans and teammates alike. At 22 years old, Kaiden Guhle is playing his third season in the NHL, so he was in the same shoes as his teammate not too long ago.
“I hadn’t seen him play when he was in college and we had a small sample size last year, but he’s fun to watch. He does such a good job, he’s already a pro. He arrives early and is always one of the first to jump on the ice, he wants to improve and he asks a lot of questions. He works on his shot every day.
Learn and work
Guhle’s comments echo those of Hutson himself.
“I want to get to know what works and what doesn’t, I’m open to learning new things. There are so many guys in this league who try to have an edge on everything, even the smallest things, so to be able to see what other people are doing and what’s working for them is pretty special.”
Martin St-Louis also emphasized that Hutson worked like a pro, mentioning that “he’s a kid who loves coming to the arena.” He is also impressed by his defensive presence.
“He’s combative defensively, he’s learning to play with four other guys on the ice and his intensity impresses me game after game.”
Create confusion
After the victory against the Predators last Wednesday in which he scored on the power play on a pass from Hutson, Patrik Laine made everyone laugh by describing the young defenseman’s play with the man advantage.
“He’s slippery. […] It’s so hard to read what he’s going to do, half the time I have no idea what he’s going to do, so there’s no chance the opposing penalty kill will know.”
When Laine’s words are reported, Hutson can’t help but laugh a little.
“I want to create a little confusion and put our guys in position where they can score. He can score from anywhere, he doesn’t need that much space. But I like to pretend to give them time and space.”
Hutson has 19 assists in 28 games, but he’s still waiting to celebrate his first goal, which doesn’t bother him any more than it should. But to get there, he does what he has to do.
“I definitely have to shoot more,” he emphasizes. You want to show that you have a threatening shot and I’m working on my shot to get it where it needs to be to hopefully score goals.”
