Lane Hutson is already one of the best offensive defensemen

Is Lane Hutson perfect?

The answer is no, and we all noticed it last night.

The little defenseman may have had an interesting game offensively against the Penguins, but it was more than difficult defensively. He finished the game with a cumulative score of -4, and we saw why some people were afraid of his defensive shortcomings.

But at 20 years of age, it’s normal to see a young defender like him make mistakes.

Kris Letang has been in Lane Hutson’s shoes before, and after yesterday’s game, the Québécois said there was nothing to worry about, because the defender’s talent is undeniable:

Right.

The season is only four games old and Lane Hutson, in his career, totals six games in the National League.

We haven’t seen much of him, but Scott Wheeler (The Athletic) has seen enough to share a pretty powerful comment on Twitter: for him, Hutson is already among the NHL’s best offensive defensemen.

Scott Wheeler has seen it all because he’s an expert on prospects, and that’s why his exit is significant:

At the risk of repeating myself, the season is still very young.

But so far, Hutson is tied with Logan Stankoven and Seamus Casey for the rookie scoring lead. In fact, only three defensemen have more points than him so far this season.

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I’m talking about Seah Theodore (5), Rasmus Andersson (5) and… Cale Makar (5).

For sure, Lane Hutson isn’t the best defensive player on the ice. And there’s a good chance he’ll make some questionable decisions that could cost a goal at times.

But his offensive impact is so enormous that we’ll have to live with his defensive shortcomings.

And we’ve seen proof of that since the season began.