Not that Lane Hutson still needs any approval so that we can appreciate what he has accomplished on the ice in the last season. But when praise come from one of the greatest defenders in the history of the Canadian, we necessarily reach out.
In the eyes of Serge Savard, Hutson already, in a single year, wrote his name in the club’s big history book.
“The future will tell us, but I think he is the most talented guy that the Canadian has known since Guy Lafleur,” said Savard on Tuesday morning on the sidelines of the golf tournament he presides. As well say the best for some 40 years.
The senator’s opinion is not trivial. Not only does he speak in his capacity as former director general of the team (1983-1995), but also as a former defender himself and a member of the renowned hockey temple. He also evolved alongside Larry Robinson and Guy Lapointe within one of the most dominant defensive squads in the history of the NHL.
Photo Christinne Muschi, Canadian Press
Bobby Orr et Serge Savard
From the beginnings of Hutson, said Mr. Savard, he found that he was “the best player in the Canadian”.
“I was convinced very early that he would be a big NHL star,” he added. The things he does, there are not many people who can do them. We are always afraid when a guy of 6 pi 4 in his darkens towards him 100 miles an hour, but he is so agile that he always finds a way of equipping himself. I think it’s a guy who is not afraid to play when a match is tough. He is able to play in there. »»
The 66 points of Lane Hutson in her recruit season, on the way to the title of recruit of the year in the league, are eighth row of the best harvests for a defender of CH to date. Larry Robinson (3) and Guy Lapointe (3) share six of the remaining places. The other is claimed by Chris Chelios.
Serge Savard chaired Tuesday the sixth presentation of a charity golf tournament whose sums are given to the foundation of the University of Sherbrooke. The management of the university also announced, jointly with the former Canadian, the creation of male and female hockey teams that will wear the colors of the establishment in the coming years.
“In the right direction”
It’s not just Lane Hutson who enthuses Serge Savard. He already had a favorable prejudice towards current management, to whom he readily gave the “benefit of doubt” in recent years, according to the reconstruction of the workforce.
Today, he pushes his reflection further by affirming that in his eyes, the organization “goes in the right direction”.
The training that allowed the Canadian to raise the Stanley Cup in 1993 had on four players with 80 to 100 points, he recalled. Mr. Savard sees a similar nucleus for the club’s current version.
In 2024-2025, Nick Suzuki became only the second Montreal skater of the 2000s to exceed the 80-points threshold. Cole Caufield (70) and Lane Hutson (66) have shown signs of progression to this plateau, while Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov are called to become impact contributors.
This is what makes Serge Savard say that “offensively, with a few more changes, we can perhaps aspire to something”. First at the playoffs. “Afterwards, we’ll see. »»
That said, with the exception of Slafkovsky, the offensive leaders of the Tricolor, at the moment, are medium -sized players, like Suzuki, if not from little to very small size, like Hutson and Caufield.
This weight deficit appeared in the playoffs against Washington’s capital, estimates Mr. Savard. One of the striking elements of this short series of five games was, let us remember, the powerful defeat that Tom Wilson had Alexandre Carrier during the fourth duel.
“We have seen that natural physical force was the lack that lacked,” continued the legendary number 18. We got a little intimidated by the capital, which were much bigger than us. Players who can collect from 80 to 100 points at present, they are not large. It is a gap that will have to be taken into consideration in the future. »»
No one, that being, had sold the Canadian of 2025 as a finished product. But the message of the old CEO has passed.
