Lane Hutson Should Have More Room To Move on the Power Play

Lane Hutson is having the kind of season that makes you a Calder nominee. Winning that award will be hard this season because it’s a jam-packed field. I can say that he is a weapon on the power play, and I don’t think his usage is correct in that regard.

What I’m talking about is the slingshot. I get why teams use that, but having a weapon like Hutson means you can let him take the puck down the ice and create, but he can’t do that when he has to pass the puck backward. Against the Flyers, he almost had a giveaway on one of those after he had a head of steam going. It seemed counterproductive for sure. 

Hutson has one power-play goal and 23 power-play assists. What I am saying is if they let him go end to end once in a while he could score a few more goals and get a few more assists. I watched him do that with the NTDP but Martin. St. Louis may not have that confidence in him right now - - but he should.

Hutson is terrific all over the ice. As a head coach, you have to trust him even as a rookie to get his full benefit. He is going to be one of the three best players on the team. A core guy and maximizing every bit of his abilities is going to set the Canadiens apart when it all starts to click.