The Hockey News is happy to bring you a comparison between the rookie seasons of three of the most exciting young defensemen to play in the NHL, in collaboration with RG.org. Our partners extracted the stats necessary to bring you this in-depth look at Montreal Canadiens Lane Hutson’, Colorado Avalanche Cale Makar’, and Vancouver Canucks Quinn Hughes’ rookie seasons.

Habs fans will be glad to see that Hutson’s rookie season compares well to the Colorado and Vancouver franchise cornerstones. It doesn’t guarantee that he’ll achieve the same status, but it’s at the very least very interesting to see.

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Hutson led all NHL rookies in scoring and finished seventh among all defensemen in total points. He broke the Canadiens’ franchise record for a rookie blueliner. Makar and Hughes also reached high production benchmarks in their first full seasons, with Makar winning the Calder Trophy and Hughes being named a finalist alongside him. The Canadiens' rookie recorded more points than the other two, but he achieved this by playing more games.

Ice Time & Usage

Interestingly, Hutson had more ice time than both Hughes and Makar, while receiving less power-play ice time than they did. The naysayers often said this year that the Canadiens’ rearguard was shielded and received too many offensive zone starts, but he got fewer than both Hughes and Makar. There’s even a significant different with the Canucks defenseman.

Unsurprisingly, none of them spent a significant amount of time on the ice when their team was down a man. Nowadays, however, Makar features on the Avalanche's top penalty kill unit, while Hughes skates on the second line for Vancouver. Will Hutson ever get there? It remains to be seen.

5v5 Advanced Metrics

This is where Makar and Hughes outperformed the Canadiens' youngster. For those unfamiliar with the Corsi metric, the Corsi number for an individual player is calculated by dividing the number of shot attempts his team receives at even strength while he is on the ice by the number of shot attempts the opponent gets while he is on the ice. Essentially, it’s a bit like plus minus, but with shots. Here, it’s expressed as a percentage that's calculated by taking the shot attempts for and dividing them by the shot attempts against.

As for the xGF%, it represents the expected goals for and evaluates the quality of shot attempts made when a player is on the ice. It’s about the likelihood that a goal will be scored. Hutson trails the other two defensemen by less in this category, which is arguably more critical than the Corsi number.

xGA/60 represents the expected goals against per 60 minutes, and of course, the lower the number, the better. Both Makar and Hughes fare better than the Canadiens’ blueliner in that department. There is room for improvement, but it's worth noting that the Avalanche (.657) and the Canucks (.565) had a higher points percentage in Makar and Hughes’ rookie season than the Canadiens did this season (.555). As Montreal improves, so will Hutson’s number in that department.

SCF% represents the scoring chance percentage, basically the attempts that hit the net and are counted as a scoring chance. As for the HDCF%, it focuses on high danger chances; in both categories, the higher the number, the better. Hutson trails both Hughes and Makar in both of these categories, and the difference is more flagrant with the Colorado blueliner.

Still, Hutson’s 5v5 profile was close to neutral in possession but slightly positive in expected goals and high-danger chance generation. His numbers suggest offensive involvement despite not driving play at the same level as Hughes or Makar.

WAR/GAR Summary

WAR represents the wins above replacement and is calculated to measure a player's complete performance. It’s essentially using offensive, defensive, and other aspects of the game to calculate the number of wins a player contributes to the team. As for GAR, it represents goals above replacement and takes into account a player’s offense, defense, and penalties. These numbers show just how elite Hughes and Makar are.

You can see an overall percentile grade for Hutson in various categories in the card below. Hutson ranked in the 92nd percentile in overall WAR. He stood out in playmaking and puck movement, particularly at even strength and on the power play. His defensive impact was limited, but his ability to drive offense, draw penalties, and find high-percentage passes positioned him as one of the league’s most productive offensive defensemen in his first year.

Postseason Performance

All three defensemen made the playoffs in their rookie season and left a mark in the postseason tournament. Hutson’s sample was much smaller, with the young Canadiens being eliminated in just five games by the Washington Capitals; however, he still led all Habs defensemen in points in the playoffs, and also led all Montreal players. Cole Caufield was second with four points, and Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, and Christian Dvorak all had two points.

Makar was a point-per-game performer, and Hughes was one point short of it. It’s impossible to know if Hutson could have remained a PPG player had the Canadiens gone deeper in the postseason, but given how he performed all through the season, it would have made sense.

Overall, this exercise demonstrates that Hutson’s rookie season positions him firmly in the same elite rookie tier as Makar and Hughes. His numbers also illustrate the importance Hutson held for the Canadiens, who trusted him in key situations. Even though he was playing in his first complete season, Hutson showed he could already be a top-pairing defenseman.

The following sites were used by RG.org to compile the data necessary to produce the numbers:

• NHL.com

• Hockey-Reference.com

• Natural Stat Trick

• JFresh Hockey (via TopDownHockey / PuckPedia / NHL Rosters)

Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images

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