It will be difficult for Lane Hutson to win the Calder in 24-25

It’s been just over a week since the first round of the draft, and already several players have signed their NHL entry-level contracts.

Here’s the list of first-round draft picks who have reached an agreement with their team:

Macklin Celebrini (1)
Artyom Levshunov (2)
Beckett Sennecke (3)
Berkly Catton (8)
Zayne Parekh (9)
Jett Luchanko (13)
Adam Jiricek (16)
Terik Parascak (17)
Stian Solberg (23)

A fine line-up. All that’s missing is Ivan Demidov and Michael Hage, but that won’t be happening this year.

All these guys will have the opportunity to break into their respective NHL teams’ line-ups. This means that the race for the Calder will be extremely tight…

Good luck to Lane Hutson, then…

Some of these guys won’t be anywhere near the race (or the league even). And others could get in.

– Mavrik Bourque
– Lane Hutson
– Jonathan Lekkerimaki
– Brandt Clarke

But it’ll be fun nonetheless

– Cam Robinson (@Hockey_Robinson) July 6, 2024

As you can see from the X-publication by Cam Robinson, content director of Elite Prospects, guys like Macklin Celebrini, Artyom Levshunov, Cutter Gauthier and Matvei Michkov will all be in their big league rookie seasons and should all make an impact.

Robinson forgot Beckett Sennecke, who also signed his NHL entry-level contract. He could break into the Ducks’ line-up at the start of the season and be a candidate for the Calder Trophy, which Connor Bedard won outright last year.

The Ducks’ hopeful could, however, return to junior.

As for Hutson, he’ll be fighting for a position from the start of the season, and he’ll be trying to stay there. Because even if his future is bright in Montreal, he shouldn’t take his position for granted. After all, there are plenty of defensemen in the city.

If he plays twenty minutes a game and gets plenty of playing time on the first wave of the power play, he’ll certainly be considered among the NHL’s top rookie defensemen. But let’s wait before giving him the Calder.

After all, Mike Matheson is still around and I don’t think we’ll be able to take away his power-play time.

At the very least, Demidov is likely to be one of the favorites in 2025-2026.