While still searching for his first career goal, Lane Hutson is still producing offensively, and he has already broken one record in the history of the most storied team in the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens. The record was set all the way back in 1984 by Chris Chelios.
In the history of the Canadiens, perhaps no other defender is as overlooked as Chris Chelios. Its possibly due to him having a huge 26 season career, and known just as much as a Chicago Blackhawk or Detroit Red Wing as much as a Montreal Canadien.
But from 1983 to 1990, Chris Chelios was a Montreal Canadien, and he was a great defender.
Chelios had two of his best statistical seasons in Montreal, scoring 20 goals in 1987-88 and 73 points in 1988-89. But Chelios came out gunning in his rookie season scoring 9 goals and 64 points in 74 games.
That included two spans of March 1st to March 14th and December 16th to December 27th, where he played 6 games in a row, and got a point in each of those games. That tied Glen Harmon all the way back in 1943.
But that is no longer what will be in the record books after the Canadiens win against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday. Patrik Laine, returning from injury, scored his third goal in four games in a Montreal Canadiens uniform on the powerplay, which was assisted by Lane Hutson, for points in his last 7 games.
Obviously, as Lane Hutson still doesn't have an NHL goal, all of those points have been assists, which doesn't take anything away from his accomplishment. To find the last game Hutson was held pointless was all the way back on November 26th against the Utah Hockey Club.
Interestingly, Patrik Laine has scored three goals, and Lane Hutson has assisted on each of his goals so far.
So far this season, Lane Hutson has 19 points, all assists in 28 games. If he keeps this pace up, he will end the year with 0(!) goals and 55 assists. That puts him comfortably among the all-time greats of rookie defenders. Its better than Ray Bourque and Brian Leetch, and would tie Chris Chelios but would fall just short of Larry Murphy who had an astonishing 60 assists in his debut season.
One interesting if not the most glamorous record Hutson might break is the most points in a season without scoring a goal. As far as I can tell, Jim Thomson of the Toronto Maple Leafs scored 29 points, and no goals. Which is the most assists in a season without scoring a goal.
With 19 assists already, it would take something catastrophic for Hutson to not register more than 30 assists, the only question is if he will score a goal. He has been buzzing around the net more frequently as late, so I wouldn't put my money on it.