Unsurprisingly, two Canadian prospects, defender Lane Hutson and goaltender Jacob Fowler, were invited to the American team’s selection camp in preparation for the World Junior Championship, presented in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Hutson, a late second round pick in 2022, and Fowler, drafted at the start of the third round in 2023, are already the stuff of dreams for many CH fans.
The former produced at an unmatched rate in his first two seasons in the NCAA. He passed the legendary Brian Leetch last year for third all-time for most points in a season by a player 19 or younger*, 48 (in just 39 games). Leetch had 1,028 points in 1,205 career National Hockey League games between 1987 and 2006 and won two Norris Trophies.
Lane Hutson produced more in the NCAA at 18 than today’s top offensive defensemen, Cale Makar, Adam Fox, Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy. With 20 points in 15 games this season, he is producing at a pace of 52 points in 39 games.
At 18, Quinn Hughes, the leader among NHL defensemen with 34 points in 25 games, had 29 points in 37 games at Michigan. However, he allowed Hutson seven months, having been born in October. Hughes began his NCAA career a month shy of 18, before being drafted by the Canucks in 2018. In his second season with the Wolverines, six months older than Hutson in his first year at Boston University , he had 33 points in 32 games.
Fox, another sub-6-foot defenseman like Hughes and Makar, winner of the 2021 Norris Trophy as the most outstanding defenseman in the National League in 2021, had 40 points in 35 games in his first year at Harvard, but in the division the lowest in college hockey. His performance dropped to 28 points in 29 games the following year.
Makar had 21 points in 34 games in his first year at Umass-Amherst. He turned 19 at the start of the season. He exploded in his second year, at age 20, with 49 points in 41 games.
McAvoy, the number one defenseman for the Boston Bruins, played two years for the same team as Hutson, Boston University. A late player like Makar and Hughes, born in December, he had 25 points in 37 games in his first year and 26 points in 38 games in his second.
Even if he produces more at the same age, in the same circuit, than the best young defensemen in the National Hockey League, Huston still has his skeptics. And we must not dismiss these divergent opinions out of hand, in order to maintain the best dose of realism in our forecasts.
Hutson is not an explosive skater like Makar, Fox or Hughes. He also needs to improve his lateral movement and back skating; often, he will pivot more quickly to pass the front skate when he finds himself in a one-on-one confrontation.
As Hutson is generally in possession of the puck during his thirty minutes or more spent on the ice with the Terriers, and his extraordinary intelligence allows him to escape opposing pressure and pass the puck to his teammates or to him. placing in the right places, defending does not constitute its strength.
The World Junior Championship, against the best players of his age, will constitute an interesting laboratory to observe the progression of this young man whose measurements now stand at 5 feet 10 inches and 161 pounds.
Hutson was in the tournament last year, but played a more discreet role, behind Luke Hughes, fourth overall pick by the Devils in 2021, 14 points in 22 games in his first season in the NHL, and Sean Behrens, pick of Colorado Avalanche second rounder in 2021, two veterans from the previous tournament.
This time, Hutson will be the quarterback on the power play and in all offensive missions. But what will its role be in the whole? Will he be called upon to face the best downpours? Will he play shorthanded, like Fox, Makar and McAvoy are required to do in the NHL?
In short, this World Junior Championship, and its probable arrival in Montreal at the end of the season, after the elimination of the Terriers, should already provide us with some answers. Will Hutson be the steal of the 2022 draft ahead of a Makar or Hughes, capable of playing 25 minutes per game? Or should we rather see him as an offensive specialist, a Tyson Barrie or Shayne Gostisbehere, brilliant in numerical superiority, but from whom it is necessary to subtract the best opposing elements by using them within a third pair of equal numerical strength?
* Craig Redmond, sixth overall pick by the Los Angeles Kings in 1984, holds the record with 54 points in 34 games, set in 1983. However, he was limited to a few games in Los Angeles, not without producing (he even got 39 points in his first year), but 5-foot-10 defensemen weren’t popular in the NHL 40 years ago…
Even though Trey Augustine, a 2023 second-round pick of the Red Wings, participated in the World Junior Championship last year, Jacob Fowler would hold the lead in securing the title of number one goaltender, based on to the use of these two goalkeepers during a preliminary tournament this summer.
In a short, fascinating documentary broadcast by the Canadian a few months ago, the friendly Fowler affirmed in an interview with the management of the Canadian that he was used to criticism: he had been underestimated since a young age despite his success, he confided.
His choice in the third round also sparked an internal debate within the Canadian. He made his allies look good at the start of the season with a 12-3-1 record, a 2.04 GAA and a .929 save percentage in his debut at Boston College, on a team talented with Will Smith, Cutter Gauthier, Gabriel Perreault and Ryan Leonard, all first round picks.
It’s a little tougher for Augustine at Michigan State with a 9-3-2 record, but a 3.17 GAA and .911 save percentage.
Some were surprised to learn that the Canadian’s first choice in 2023, David Reinbacher, would not represent Austria at the World Junior Championship. Don’t worry, Reinbacher was not dismissed by team management. Quite the contrary. Austria were relegated to the second world group due to their last place in the rankings last year. Facing juniors from France, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Denmark and Japan was a waste of time for Reinbacher, already a member of a premier defensive duo in the Swiss National League. The Canadian’s other Austrian hope, Vinzenz Rohrer, will not be there either, just like Marco Kasper, first round choice of the Red Wings in 2022, retained in the American League.
