Introduction

There are many reasons why some players find themselves selected far later in the NHL draft than they should be. Be it a lacklustre draft year, off-ice issues, lack of a particular elite trait, or size, teams don’t want to use their first-round picks on anyone that they’re not entirely sure of.

Size, or lack thereof, was the obvious factor that saw Lane Hutson available with the 62nd-overall pick in 2022. Now, 31 NHL teams are kicking themselves for missing out on the eventual Calder Trophy-winner.

We’ve heard it all when it comes to Hutson. Sure, he dominated with the USNTDP, but he won’t be able to do that in the NCAA. Okay, fine, he was dominant in the NCAA, but he won’t be doing that in the NHL. Going into his rookie season, he found himself facing a sea of doubters, as he had at essentially every level of his hockey career.

Sixty-six points later, he not only earned that rookie of the year nod, but was a massive part of the Habs’ surprising return to the NHL playoffs. Once there, he even put up a point per game during the team’s ill-fated series with the Washington Capitals. The most stubborn of his doubters remain, but they too will be silenced if this is just the beginning of what he’s capable of at the NHL level.

Voting

Hutson received five of 12 first-place votes, falling just short of our top dog, whose name you’ve probably deduced by now. It is a very thin margin, and even if you had Hutson in first as I did, the presence of two prospects this exciting at the top of the list bodes very well for the future of Habs hockey.

It was a tight battle in the community ballots with nearly all votes being for the top two spots.

Top 25 Under 25 History

Hutson has done nothing but rise on our list no matter who is added around him. Debuting at 13th in 2022, he jumped to sixth in 2023, fifth in 2024, and a superb rookie season now has him in second.

History of #2

Year
#2

2025
Lane Hutson

2024
Ivan Demidov

2023
Cole Caufield

2022
Cole Caufield

2021
Cole Caufield

2020
Jesperi Kotkaniemi

2019
Jesperi Kotkaniemi

2018
Max Domi

2017
Jonathan Drouin

2016
Brendan Gallagher

2015
Brendan Gallagher

2014
Brendan Gallagher

2013
Alex Galchenyuk

2012
Max Pacioretty

2011
P.K. Subban

2010
P.K. Subban

Strengths

The Bell Centre makes a different kind of sound when Hutson is carrying the puck with any sort of space; it is one of pure anticipation. His straight-line speed is better than most are willing to give him credit for, but his puck-handling, misdirection, and lateral movement are undeniably elite. Whether in transition or at the offensive blue line, he will make opposing players miss with his movement, and what he does from there is why he became rookie of the year.

While he’s putting opposing players in a blender, he’s acutely aware of where his teammates are, constantly plotting his next move. Playmaking is his bread and butter. He forces everyone to worry about what he’s doing, then dishes to an open teammate to create a quality chance. You can freeze-frame many instances last season where he had four or five players on the other team staring at him while he danced with the puck, while one of his teammates ended up wide open for a one-timer chance.

Fans were naturally clamouring for him to take over the role of quarterback for the top power-play unit, which he eventually did. His puck-handling and playmaking gifts helped the team jump from the league’s 27th-best power play in 2023-24, to 21st in 2024-25. There’s still plenty of work to do in getting that unit up with the NHL’s elite, but with Hutson now boasting a full year of NHL experience, there’s reason to believe that he can lead them where they want to go.

Weaknesses

Hutson will never be a physical specimen among NHL players, so the physicality of a long defensive shift will be taxing on him. Forcing him to play for extended periods of time in his own zone is no easy task, but when opposing teams can do that, it severely limits his effectiveness. He also struggles at times with gap control and pivoting against oncoming rushes, so teams will continue to attack his side of the ice off the rush and try to exploit him.

We know exactly how dangerous he is on the offensive side, but his shot is still a work in progress. Luckily, we know he has put in significant work on that front, both during and after last season, to try to make himself a bit more of a shooting threat. He may never be a 20-goal threat, but just forcing his opponents to respect his shot a bit more could really boost his total point potential.

Some of his “weaknesses” are more perceived, nay contrived, than rooted in reality. One thing Hutson’s detractors love to point out are his giveaways. You never want to give the puck away, but as a statistic, it is a byproduct of having the puck on your stick a lot. I will now list just five of the 16 NHL defencemen who had more giveaways than Hutson last season: Cale Makar, Victor Hedman, Zach Werenski, Evan Bouchard, and Mikhail Sergachev. The least we can do in hockey discourse is be honest about what is and what isn’t an actual problem when it comes to young players.

Projection

Hutson didn’t just impress as a rookie, he finished in the top 10 of voting for the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenceman. There is no questioning that he is a top-four blue-liner, and the only questions now are how far can he go, and who should the Habs pair him with this season?

The question of who he should play with is a very interesting one. Hutson played at least 50 minutes last season with Jayden Struble, Alexandre Carrier, Arber Xhekaj, Kaiden Guhle, Mike Matheson, and David Savard. His worst numbers by a long shot were with Savard, who has since retired from the sport altogether. His best numbers were with Struble and Carrier, but he worked well with everyone else, including some very strong numbers with Guhle during the playoffs.

I would be partial to Hutson starting with Guhle to begin the season, but the addition of Noah Dobson gives the coaching staff a lot of options for how they might configure the top four. Hutson has proven he can succeed on the right or the left, so he gives the coaching staff a fair amount of flexibility. We likely won’t get an answer as to who they prefer him playing with until opening night, and the data from last year tells us that he’ll be able to produce no matter who it is.

A 66-point season isn’t easy to improve upon as a defenceman, but the amount of chances he created last year that died on other players’ sticks tell us that he actually left some points on the table. There’s a good to fair chance that with more stability in his defensive partners and better finishing from the forwards around him, he could eclipse the point-per-game mark at some point.

If he happens to pull that off this season, it could make for an absolute banger of a contract extension. But whatever he costs, I think it will be a number that Kent Hughes will be more than happy to pay, because Hutson is shaping up to be one of the biggest stars that Montreal has seen in some time.

Patrik Bexell is joined by Ryan Szporer of The Hockey Writers to discuss Hutson on the podcast.