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Lane Hutson performs better with Arber Xhekaj than Kaiden Guhle
Mathis Therrien
Lane Hutson performs better with Arber Xhekaj than Kaiden Guhle
Credit: Getty Images
Since the start of the season, Lane Hutson has been truly impressive.

His performances have truly exceeded expectations, much to the delight of all Montreal Canadiens fans.

The young defenseman has wasted no time in establishing himself as one of the CH’s best, if not the CH’s best defenseman, and has been very consistent throughout the season.

What’s even more incredible is that Hutson managed to be consistent and maintain a high production rate, even though he often changed partners.

Indeed, Hutson went through several duos over the course of the season, and even though he remained consistent, these changes had an impact on his playing style and performance.

As a result, the CH No. 48 did better with some partners than with others.

In fact, when we analyze the advanced statistics of all the duos Lane Hutson completed this season, we notice that Hutson performed better with Arber Xhekaj than with Kaiden Guhle.

(Credit: NaturalStatTrick.com)

Indeed, when Xhekaj and Hutson found themselves playing together this season, they generated more shots than they allowed, which is not the case for the Guhle-Hutson pair.

As can be seen in the table above, when we combine shots for and shots against, we obtain a percentage (CF% = Corsi For %), which tells us whether a defensive pair is in the positive or not.

Xhekaj and Hutson are above 50% at 55.12, while Hutson and Guhle are at 47.78%.

What this means is that when Hutson played with Xhekaj this season, he managed to generate more shots while allowing fewer than when he played with Guhle.

This is a very interesting fact, and helps explain why we saw less of Hutson at the end of the season, since he was paired with Guhle.

The CH’s No. 48 produced fewer points late in the season, and he was risking fewer plays by getting deep into the opponent’s zone.

He played much more conservatively and cautiously, considering that Guhle often plays very high up in the opponent’s zone, forcing Hutson to cover his backs.

It was an adaptation that number 48 had to make, and it worked against him somewhat.

In the end, am I saying that Xhekaj should play with Hutson?

No, not necessarily.

But I do find it interesting to note that Martin St-Louis’ “unloved one” did very well alongside Hutson, and did better than one of the CH’s best defenders, Kaiden Guhle.

Now that Xhekaj is back in the line-up, pairing him with Hutson for a few appearances now and then wouldn’t be all that crazy, considering they have good advanced stats together.

Still, I wouldn’t completely break up the Hutson-Guhle pairing, especially since since the start of the playoffs, they’ve formed one of the NHL’s best pairs.

Hutson and Guhle rank 5ᵉ among NHL pairs (having played at least 20 minutes together) with their Corsi For % of 59.81.

(Credit: NaturalStatTrick.com)
In short, you have to believe that the two youngsters have finally found a good chemistry, because everything is working really well right now for them, and Hutson seems to have found his offensive ease again.


In a gust

– Four games not to be missed today.

– Indeed.

– Vinzenz Rohrer in no danger of joining the Rocket.

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