Lane Hutson has played just 84 regular-season games for the Montreal Canadiens, but it’s enough of a sample size to make a huge fan out of franchise icons Serge Savard and Larry Robinson.

“Time will tell, but he’s probably the most talented player the Canadiens have had since Guy Lafleur,” Savard said Tuesday. “Ever since I saw him, from the very beginning, I said he was the Canadiens’ best player. I was convinced early on that he would be a big star in the National Hockey League.”

Hutson, a 21-year-old defenseman, led rookies in points (66) and assists (60) last season, winning the Calder Trophy voted as NHL rookie of the year. He was tied with Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks for second in the League at his position in assists, two behind Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, and finished ninth in voting for the Norris Trophy awarded to the top defenseman in the NHL.

Born in Holland, Michigan, Hutson (5-foot-9, 162 pounds) helped Montreal qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2021. He had five assists in the Eastern Conference First Round, a five-game loss to the Washington Capitals.

“The things he can do, not many people can do that,” Savard said. “Naturally, you’re always scared when a 6-foot-4 guy comes from his blind side at 100 miles an hour, but he’s so agile and always finds a way to get out of the way. He’s not afraid to play when a game is very intense.”

Savard spoke at his annual golf tournament held at Le Mirage Golf Club in Terrebonne, Quebec. The outing featured members of the 1976 Canada men’s hockey team reuniting 49 years after winning the inaugural Canada Cup.

Canadian hockey legends like Bobby Orr, Darryl Sittler, Bobby Clarke and Scotty Bowman were in attendance, in addition to several former Canadiens including Robinson, Bob Gainey, Guy Lapointe and Steve Shutt.

Savard, an eight-time Stanley Cup champion with Montreal (1968, ’69, ’71, ’73, ’76-79), was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986 and named one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players in 2017.

So was Lafleur, who died April 22, 2022, at the age of 70 after a nearly three-year battle with cancer. The Hall of Famer won the Cup five times with the Canadiens (1973. ’76-79), the Conn Smythe Trophy voted as playoffs MVP in 1977, the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 1977 and ’78, and the Art Ross Trophy as the League’s leader in points for three straight seasons (1976-78).

Lafleur played 961 of his 1,126 NHL games for the Canadiens and had 1,246 points (518 goals, 728 assists) in 14 seasons, his last in Montreal in 1984-85. He is the franchise leader in regular-season points, assists and single-season points (136 in 1976-77).

Robinson, a Hall of Fame defenseman who won the Cup six times with the Canadiens (1973, ’76-79, ’86), the Conn Smythe in 1978 and the Norris twice (1977, ’80), was also named one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players. He said Hutson reminds him of perhaps the NHL’s “Greatest” player.

“The first thing everyone said about Hutson was that he was so small he was going to get killed,” said Robinson, quoted by the French-language Journal de Montreal. “It reminds me a lot of what people used to say in Wayne Gretzky’s day. They said he wasn’t big enough and that he was going to get hurt. Look at what he’s done, it’s not so bad!

“It’s exciting for the city of Montreal to have a player like Hutson.”