MONTREAL — When Lane Hutson arrived at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo two years ago, he came armed with data and medical evidence to counter the No. 1 question he knew he would face.
But he also arrived with the confidence he didn’t need that evidence. All the evidence he needed could be found on his game tape.
Hutson spoke to only 16 teams at the combine that year, meaning half the league couldn’t even have been bothered to talk to him ahead of the NHL Draft, let alone entertain the thought of drafting him.
Each of those 16 teams was given an endocrinologist’s report about Hutson’s bone age, how he had 18 months left to grow and that his 5-foot-8 frame at the time could be as high as 5-11 by the time he reached the NHL. When Hutson walked into a conference room in Buffalo to meet with The Athletic that year at the combine, he was ready to spew out that same information.
But deep down, Hutson didn’t care about that endocrinologist’s report. He didn’t care about his bone age. He knew his game tape was all the evidence he needed.
“It was an idea brought to me by my advisers and my parents,” Hutson admitted back then when asked if he cared about the report. “I didn’t look too much into it, but I obviously respect what they have to say, and they thought it would be a good idea.
“I’m not done growing, so it’s good that teams know that, but for me, I’m trying to still play the same way and let’s see what happens.”
The Montreal Canadiens did their homework. They gathered enough intelligence throughout the draft cycle to be confident Hutson would be available with the No. 62 pick in the 2022 draft. They had already drafted Juraj Slafkovský at No. 1 overall, they passed on Hutson at No. 26 and took Filip Mešár, and passed on him again at No. 33 and took Owen Beck. Then they waited nearly the entire second round of that draft to see if their gamble would pay off.
Hutson was still there, just as they had predicted.
It’s been 28 months since Hutson told half the teams in the NHL he had 18 months left to grow, and he hasn’t even grown 2 inches since, measuring in at Canadiens training camp at 5-9 and 3/4 inches and 162 pounds.
It’s safe to assume the Canadiens are not asking for a refund based on false advertising. They never cared about Hutson’s size. They were always more interested in Hutson’s brain. We are seeing why now. And frankly, we could see why back then, too.
“If I’m going to get a puck, I usually take a glance and get a vision of what’s happening before I even touch the puck,” Hutson said at the 2022 combine. “Then I’ll have an idea of what I want to do, but then there’s also seven different options, eight different options that I could do. I usually go with one of the first options I see, and then if that option closes, I’ll go to my next option.”
Lane Hutson had two assists on goals Saturday in Montreal’s 4-1 win against the Senators. (Vincent Ethier / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Fast forward to Saturday night’s 4-1 win against the Ottawa Senators — snapping a nine-game Canadiens losing streak against their division rivals — and coach Martin St. Louis was asked roughly 80 questions about Hutson after the game because, as Cole Caufield said, “He deserves all that hype.”
St. Louis didn’t deflect any of the questions. He sees what everyone else sees in Hutson, and he understands why there are so many questions about him. He, too, feels the hype is deserved because Hutson is creating an incredible amount of excitement, not just among fans or media, but within his team as well.
“He understands little pockets of space and he has the stickhandling to manage those spaces, and the deception,” St. Louis said. “He has good qualities that drive possession. And the extension of that is he has a lot of plays he can make on the ice with his skill set, but they allow him not only to make a play, but to make the best play. The best players can do that, they make the best play, not just a play.”
That harkens back to what Hutson was saying back in 2022, no? About seeing seven or eight different options?
But then, St. Louis continued, and what he said next was remarkable for an NHL rookie.
“You have to let plays evolve a bit, and he can do that because of those skills,” he said. “And I think the more his teammates get reps with him, they’ll start going to certain spots, it will be more fluid.”
An NHL rookie is expected to adjust to the NHL, adjust to his teammates. It is exceedingly rare to hear an NHL coach, one that is in the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player, state that the NHL players the rookie is playing with need to adjust to the rookie.
But St. Louis always talks about speaking the truth, and this is the truth. The way Hutson sees the game and can manipulate that vision with his skill is unique to him and will be beneficial to his Canadiens teammates.
Hutson had two assists against the Senators on Saturday and now has four points in his last two games and six points in five career NHL games. But more important than that, Hutson’s defensive play has not been an issue at all. Does he get muscled out of the way sometimes? Of course, he does. But the number of times he uses his skating and intelligence and good stick to break up plays far outweigh those instances where his size is a disadvantage for him.
And again, this is something Hutson foresaw happening back at the 2022 combine.
“I’m competitive in all three zones and I don’t want to lose puck battles, I don’t want to get beat,” he said then. “I really pride myself on the way I defend, and one thing I think I do pretty well is just keeping guys to the outside with my skating and my stick and not giving them easy ice. I feel like I have leverage on guys, I’m a little bit lower to the ice, I can push on their hips, get under them and move pucks up quick.”
That is exactly what is happening now.
As it turns out, Hutson didn’t need that endocrinologist’s report to hand out to the 16 NHL teams that wanted to talk to him at the combine. He didn’t need to defend his size, he only needed to accentuate the elements of his game that have always allowed him to succeed.
Playing for a coach who had to go through the same thing, who always had to defend his size and prove he can play and wound up in the Hall of Fame, has helped.
“I’m proud of seeing the smaller players in the league,” St. Louis said. “I feel there were players that helped that for me, I feel I was part of that too, and the league kind of transitioned.
“They just took whoever could play, not that you had to be a certain height to get on the ride.”
Hutson is on the big roller coaster that is the NHL now. He will have his ups and downs, undoubtedly, just like every rookie does. But it won’t be because he’s short. It will be because he’s a rookie learning the ins and outs of the most difficult league in the world.
His size, something that has defined him in the eyes of so many for his entire life, is already in the rearview mirror.
“It’s really nice,” Hutson said Saturday night. “I don’t worry about my size, I never have, but it’s nice to not have to explain it to people or have to do all that anymore. The team I got to, the team I’m with now, couldn’t have been a better spot. We’ve got Cole here, we’ve got Marty running the bench.
“He understands it, and he looks at me like I’m one of the guys and not a smaller player.”
As it turns out, that endocrinologist in 2022 might have been wrong about Hutson’s bone age.
Hutson didn’t care then, and he doesn’t care now. Neither do the Canadiens.
(Top photo of Lane Hutson: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
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