Lane Hutson: The Habs shouldn’t be any dumber than the other teams

Félix Forget
Lane Hutson: The Habs shouldn’t be any dumber than the other teams
Credit: Matt Garies/NHLI via Getty Images

Lane Hutson has just had (another) strong season in a Habs uniform. The defenseman scored 12 goals and tallied 78 points in 82 regular-season games before adding 16 points in 19 playoff games.

And all that earned him a sixth-place finish in the Norris Trophy voting.

Except that, in reality, there's still something peculiar about the situation: Hutson doesn't really have a regular partner… and he's the one being asked to adapt to accommodate depth players like Jayden Struble. And that has to stop for good this summer.

Take a moment to think about it: could you see the Wild asking Quinn Hughes to play right wing to accommodate Jayden Struble on the left? Could you see the Avalanche doing the same with Cale Makar?

Obviously, the answer is no. And in both cases, they made sure Hughes and Makar had a high-quality partner to back them up, whether it was Brock Faber or Devon Toews.

Of course, there are some circumstances that are hard to blame the Habs for. It's extremely difficult to find good right-handed defensemen, and the David Reinbacher project is taking a while to come to fruition (and it could take even longer before that happens, if we're to believe Pascal Vincent).

Maybe at training camp, they'll decide Reinbacher is ready and they'll be able to put together a defensive pairing where he plays with Hutson. But right now, that's no guarantee… and the Habs need a guarantee.

All of this has meant that the Canadiens, who haven't approached the last few seasons as an all-in team (and for good reason), have tried to make do with what they have. But with Hutson's emergence as a top-tier NHL defenseman and the team's emergence as a squad ready to turn the corner, it's seriously time to fix this problem once and for all.

The Habs have one of the best defensemen in the league: it's time they started treating him that way rather than as a guy whose job is to accommodate others.


In a nutshell

– One to watch.

– Trade between the Panthers and the Penguins.

– Impressive.

– Pole position for George Russell.

– The rivalry between the Yankees and the Blue Jays is alive and well.

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