After watching Lane Hutson play on Saturday night at the Bell Centre it’s hard to believe 61 players were selected before the Canadiens took him in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft.
Sometimes the best things come in small packages and Hutson is an example.
Hutson looked like a little boy wearing his father’s Canadiens sweater after getting drafted — he was listed at 5-foot-9 and 148 pounds at the time — but he is filling that sweater out nicely now.
Hutson — now listed at 5-foot-10 and 162 pounds — picked up his third assist in three games Saturday as the Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1. Hutson has now played five games in the NHL — including two at the end of last season — and has five assists.
Hutson’s size is the only reason he was still available to the Canadiens late in the second round of the draft.
“The draft is the draft,” Hutson said after Saturday’s game. “I’m just happy where I got picked … what team got me. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be here with the direction the team’s going. But, yeah, maybe at the time I was definitely using it a little bit as motivation.
“I was pretty annoyed,” Hutson added about watching 61 players be drafted ahead of him. “I was sitting there, I was annoyed. Really just waiting and hoping that it was the right spot and it ended up being the right spot. I couldn’t be happier.”
The Canadiens are very happy now Hutson was still available after they had taken Juraj Slafkovsky (first overall) and Filip Mesar (26th overall) in the first round of the 2022 draft, and Owen Beck with their first pick in the second round (33rd overall).
The Canadiens are also very happy now Cole Caufield was still available when they had the 15th overall pick at the 2019 NHL Draft. Caufield’s size — listed at 5-foot-7 and 162 pounds at the time — was the reason he didn’t go earlier in the draft.
Caufield scored twice against the Senators on Saturday, giving him four goals in three games. Emil Heineman (his first NHL goal) and Alex Newhook also scored for the Canadiens, while goalie Samuel Montembeault stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced.
The new No. 13 sweater Caufield is wearing this season in honour of Johnny Gaudreau — the Columbus Blue Jackets star who was killed in August along with his brother, Matthew, when struck by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes — looks very good on him.
“All things aside, it’s a pretty serious conversation,” Caufield said about wearing No. 13. “It doesn’t even really matter on the hockey side of things. It feels good to get off to a good start but, more importantly, just to represent the guy that he was means more to me.”
Caufield has been pointing up to the sky after each of his goals in honour of Gaudreau, who was his teammate with Team USA at this year’s IIHF world championship. Gaudreau, who was only 5-foot-9 and 163 pounds, inspired Caufield when he was growing up in Wisconsin.
“You got to trust that he’s watching over his former teammates and all his loved ones,” Caufield said. “I’m pretty honoured about that.”
Caufield and Hutson can now inspire a younger generation of smaller hockey players.
Hutson is so much fun to watch with his unique skill set.
Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said Hutson is “tiring” for the opposition. The coach added the fact Hutson is so quick and explosive, with an ability to go east-west “very, very quick” and find little of pockets of space with his stick-handling and deception, allows him to drive possession of the puck and create scoring chances for his teammates. St. Louis said Hutson’s skill set and intelligence also allows him to not just make a play, but to find the best play — something the best players are capable of doing.
That’s what Hutson did when he picked up his assist Saturday, creating space in the offensive zone before finding Newhook, who was able to take three strides in open ice before beating Senators goalie Linus Ullmark with a great shot.
“The way he handles the puck in certain situations it’s pretty crazy,” Caufield said about Hutson “It looks like he’s been playing for a really long time (in the NHL). All credit to him. He’s worked really hard and deserves all this.”
The 5-foot-8 St. Louis can relate to Hutson and Caufield after never being selected himself at the NHL Draft because of his size before going on to have a Hall of Fame career.
“I’m proud of seeing the smaller players in the league,” St. Louis said. “I feel like there’s players that helped that for me. I feel I was part of that, too. The league kind of transitioned. They just took whoever could play. Not just you had to be a certain height to get on the ride. These guys are doing it no matter what size. It’s fun to watch.
“I bet you there’s a lot of teams right now that wished they had taken (Hutson) in the first round.”