This morning, Corey Pronman released a ranking of the best players under 23 in the NHL (and among the prospects of the league’s 32 teams).
The least we can say is that it provokes a reaction.
And it’s not necessarily for the right reasons, especially when we look at the ranking of the Canadiens’ players…
There are some questionable picks (classic Corey Pronman) and there are players who seem to be misvalued.
For example?
We have to talk about Lane Hutson… Who finds himself at number 39 on Pronman’s list. Guys like Zeev Buium (8), Sam Dickinson (15), Berkly Catton (20), Artyom Levshunov (22), Carter Yakemchuk (28), Daniil But (33) and Zayne Parekh (37) find themselves ahead of him, so that they haven’t even played a single game in the NHL.
But hey. These are Pronman’s choices and he must have his reasons.
Where it sticks, however, is when you look at the description attached below Lane Hutson’s profile.
He’s a small defender with good feet (but not great) and he’s not very physical.
He has so much offense that he could still be a top 4 defenseman, but he could also allow a lot of goals (when he’s on the ice). –Corey Pronman
Uh… How would I tell you that, my Corey?
Lane Hutson is already a top-4 defenseman in Montreal. And we can even argue that he is already a top-2 defender… Because he is paired with the Canadian’s 1st defender, Mike Matheson.
There are two options, therefore: either Pronman has never watched a single Canadian game this season before making his ranking… Or he persists in criticizing Lane Hutson because of his small size.
Because it goes even further than that too.
Hutson is playing in the top-4 in Montreal and he is not there as a tourist when we look at the numbers:
- 7th in points among all NHL defensemen
- 1st pointer among rookies, ahead of Michkov and Celebrini
- Top-10 for power play points (14)
That said, let me ask you a question.
The following defensemen: Cale Makar, Zach Werenski, Quinn Hughes, Josh Morrissey, Shea Theodore and Adam Fox… what do they have in common?
It’s simple, actually…
We’re talking about the six defensemen who have more points than Lane Hutson (who is tied with Victor Hedman) since the start of the season.
And here, Corey Pronman says that Lane Hutson could “be a top-4 defenseman” in the next few years? This is not false, but in the context where this is already the casePronman sounds a little crazy with his analysis.
At the same time, we’re talking about the same guy who ranked Justin Barron ahead of Logan Mailloux, Jacob Fowler, Joshua Roy and Michael Hage among the Canadian’s best prospects last August…
In burst
– The Islanders need him.
– Yeah… You can’t do that.
– This would be a nice addition.
