“The Habs believe they could have more Lane Hutsons coming up.”

Félix Forget
“The Habs believe they could have more Lane Hutsons coming up.”
Credit: Getty Images

Earlier today, Kent Hughes held his mid-season review. The GM was generally very positive about many aspects of his club, which is indeed having a great season.

My colleagues Charles-Alexis Brisebois and Marc-Olivier Cook did an excellent job of summarizing what the GM had to say today, if you want to catch up.

And among the things the GM was positive about was Lane Hutson. The defenseman is playing some great hockey this season… and Hughes admitted: he didn't expect Hutson to ever get this good.

And in fact, this emergence on the part of the defenseman was a game-changer in town. The club suddenly found itself with a first-rate defenseman… who wasn't supposed to be.

Interestingly, in an article by Arpon Basu for The Athletic, there's a very interesting sentence that ties in with all this:

The Canadiens believe they could have more Lane Hutson coming their way. – Arpon Basu

What Basu means by this is that the Habs think they've drafted other guys who could also change the game by reaching levels that management didn't necessarily see when they drafted them. The club doesn't expect these guys to have an immediate impact like Hutson, but they do see them as game-changing nuggets.

Michael Hage, Alexander Zharovsky, and Jacob Fowler have all shown great promise over the past few years… and one wonders if the club also includes guys like Bryce Pickford and Adam Engström in this group.

Obviously, not all of these youngsters will become as good as Hutson. In fact, some of them may not even be impact players in the city. But considering that many of them were drafted late, it makes sense that most of them won't become superstars.

But if the club is able to unearth one or two more nuggets, it will be able to graft them onto a core that is already building on very good foundations. And perhaps that's how the club will slowly establish itself as one of the NHL's top clubs over the next few years.


Overtime

– The Habs have come a long way.

– Ouch.

– Interesting.

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