Lane Hutson was a dark horse to win the Calder Memorial Trophy coming into the season. Many saw the potential of the Montreal Canadiens defenseman’s offensive game, but Macklin Celebrini and Matvei Michkov were better bets to win the Rookie of the Year. However, Hutson’s numbers were too good for the voters to ignore, which led to him winning the prestigious trophy.
Celebrini and Michkov ultimately finished third and fourth, respectively, in the voting. Another dark horse, Dustin Wolf, emerged as the runner-up, as he nearly put the Calgary Flames on his back and led them to the postseason. Wolf had a strong case to steal the award from Hutson, but in the end, the Canadiens’ rookie ran away with the voting.
Hutson received 165 first-place votes for the award, with Wolf trailing behind with only 15. The most impressive part was that no voter saw Hutson as any worse than second in the voting, as he received 26 second-place votes to accompany it. The fact that not one of 191 voters saw him as any worse than the second-best rookie is a testament to how good of a season he had.
Hutson is a significant reason why the Canadiens made a shocking return to the postseason. Montreal, with one of the best prospect pools in the league, has a bright future ahead of them. However, it was Hutson’s emergence as one of the league’s top offensive defensemen that catapulted them into contention earlier than expected.
