It's hard to ignore the Lane Hutson hype building in Montreal. Hutson would've been a hot topic in the city this year, as there hasn't been a prospect with this much excitement in a long time. The true measure of a player's potential is when the hype spreads from the local media to a national presence, and that's happening with Hutson. The Hockey Night in Canada panel raved about his performance on Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators, and now Elliotte Friedman shared his thoughts about him on the 32 Thoughts Podcast.
"If Lane Hutson gets on the top powerplay unit, he's going to be really, really hard to beat for the Calder."Elliotte Friedman
Friedman's claim about Hutson should be very exciting for the Canadiens. The pressure for Martin St. Louis to remove Mike Matheson from the top powerplay unit and insert Hutson is ramping up both locally and nationally. Everyone wants to see what Hutson can do with better offensive weapons. Hutson has six points in five games since making his NHL debut last season, which includes four points in three games this year. We are desperate to see Hutson feeding Cole Caufield on the powerplay, who is also playing some of the best hockey of his career.
If Hutson joins the top powerplay unit and starts piling up points, the hype will only build around him. The positive for the Canadiens and Hutson is that he hasn't looked out of place at even strength either. The concern entering the season was if he could stand up to NHL bodies defensively. There is no reason to believe that isn't the case three games into the season. We'll see if he can maintain that form, but there are still some growing pains to come. However, the recent support from Sportsnet about Hutson shows that his start to the season isn't just irrationality from the fanbase but something real.