There’s a lot to say about Danault, Kapanen, Hage, and a certain Cole Hutson

Tony Patoine
There’s a lot to say about Danault, Kapanen, Hage, and a certain Cole Hutson
Credit: Twitter screenshot

Once again this year, I've come up with some great holiday treats for you to enjoy while digesting the proverbial turkey.

So get your Tia Maria and your Baileys ready, go!

Kapanen and Danault: not bad in the top-9

Before the Bruins game, Oliver Kapanen was on his way to a 43-point season, while maintaining a neutral differential (+/- 0). He's even producing more this season at 5-on-5 than a certain Nick Suzuki…

Now, 43 points is strangely the same number of points Phillip Danault racked up in Los Angeles last year… while maintaining a +20 differential.

We don't know if Danault still has 40-point seasons in his skates, but it's hard to imagine that the man who also collected 8 points in 6 playoff games against the Oilers last spring suddenly became a “finished” player over the summer.

My hypothesis is rather that Quinton Byfield was gradually given more responsibility. As a result, Danault's ice time has shrunk by more than a minute this season, and he's been relegated to an even more defensive role.

After recording just 2 points on the power play last season, he had none in this situation this season. It will be recalled that Danault had played and produced heavily on the powerplay in the previous two seasons with the Kings: 22 points in 22-23 and 12 points in 23-24.

Feeling, by his own admission, less useful and wanted with the Kings, I think his motivation simply waned and he figured that as long as he had such a role, he'd be happier filling it in front of his own fans, in Montreal, on a team on the upswing.

So I'm expecting a much more motivated Danault with the Habs, who, with so many injuries, might even get some minutes back on the PP's second unit.

Two “transition” centers?

It's fair to say that, under normal circumstances, the Habs now have two centers capable of scoring around 40 points on their second and third units.

It's not as ideal as having a second center with 55-60 points and a third capable of forty, but as my mother used to subtly say, “it's better than a kick in the a…”.

Especially when your first center can do 90 and all these guys are pretty good defensively.

Not to mention that having two such creative, puck-handling wingers on your second line in Slafkovsky and Demidov goes a long way to making up for it.

In short, Kapanen and Danault are quite “decent” second and third centers who will hold down the fort in the top-9 while we wait for Zharovsky and Hage to develop and/or, who knows, the arrival of a Crosby or another big name.

When the time comes, we'll see to what extent and for how long Kapanen, who remains rather ordinary when it comes to making plays in possession of the puck, will be able to “battle” with these kinds of individuals…

Speaking of Hage…

In addition to L.J. Mooney, if there are two players I'm looking forward to seeing at the WJC, which begins in a few days' time, it's Michael Hage and Cole Hutson.

Back in the summer of 2024, a certain part-time sports analyst dared to place Cole Hutson 8thin his final draft rankings.

No one had him that high.

Then, a few weeks later, in our mock draft, the same analyst selected him 17th for the Capitals. In the end, it was the same Caps who drafted him… 43rd!

In the same mock draft, I also mentioned Michael Hage's name at 21st for the Kings. The rest is history. It was the Habs who finally drafted him at exactly that spot after (another!) trade with the Kings.

I didn't hate what I saw of Michael Hage in last week's warm-up game against Sweden. And in general, since he was selected by the Canadiens, I've been delighted every time I've seen him. Hage has an advantageous physique, shoots and passes the puck very well, skates like the wind, and seems to have a perfectly adequate hockey IQ.

He's expected to be one of Unifolié's good players in the next two weeks, and could even make his NHL debut at the end of this season.

The Canadiens clearly didn't bet on the wrong horse, but did they bet on the best? That's the question.

Remember that Hutson completely dominated the CMJ last year. Top scorer in the tournament and record holder for most points by an American defenseman (11). He was even clearly better than Zeev Buium, in only his second appearance.

Speaking of the wolf – or killer whale, as the case may be – I ranked Buium third in 2024, just behind the prolific Celebrini and Demidov. At the time, I slightly preferred him to Cole Hutson. Buium impressed me at his first WJC, while Hutson caught my eye at U18.

If Quinn Hughes was worth all that…

Now, if we go back to the present, recent rumors have it that the Capitals weren't too keen on the idea of letting Cole Hutson go in a trade for Quinn Hughes.

Still, it's peculiar to think that the Canadiens, who drafted Lane Hutson 62nd overall in 2022, turned up their nose at his younger brother, Cole, apparently just as good, in 2024.

The Habs' #48 has quickly become a superstar and, in a similar style, may already be better than Quinn Hughes.

Now, that same Quinn Hughes has just been traded for a lot of money: Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and a first-round pick in 2026!

So my point is this: if Cole Hutson was roughly the equivalent of Buium in 2024, and apparently as good as Lane at the same age: why didn't you draft him 21st in 2024?

As you can hear in this interview with Frank Seravalli at 8:30, despite having him “higher” than 43rd, the Habs never considered taking Hutson at 21st. Kent Hughes pointed out that he was already counting on Lane and Adam Engstrom in the “puck moving D” style and that he had needs to fill elsewhere.

Fair enough. But superstars are hard to come by at No. 21, and Hutson was without a shadow of a doubt (at least in my opinion!) the best player available.

So the Habs could have relied on Lane and Cole by putting them on two different duos and perhaps together on the powerplay. Both are physically very strong and very tough despite their small stature. Cole is even a little stronger and more effective defensively than Lane.

Now, if we had ever wanted to trade one of the two to fill needs elsewhere, following the Quinn Hughes trade, it's no longer hard to imagine that the return could have been downright impressive, stunning, incredible, etc.

That said, in this parallel universe, it might have been Michael Matheson or Adam Engstrom we'd have liked to part with. We'll never know.

Regardless, the Canadiens certainly won't be empty-handed with Michael Hage, who should develop into a good, if not great, player, whether at center or wing.

But we might well wonder whether his hands wouldn't be even fuller with Cole Hutson.

While we shouldn't jump to conclusions with the CMJ, I can't wait to see how these two players perform at the end of the competition…

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