“Lane Hutson has potential, but he needs to toughen up for the playoffs” – Sergei Gonchar

Dose
Crédit: Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals defends against Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Seriously, when you think about it, it’s really refreshing to see the Montreal Canadiens being carried along by talented young players who represent the future of the club. For a long time, the Habs were a team of veterans with varying degrees of talent, relying on Carey Price to save the day virtually every game. So it’s really great to see that things have changed, and that now the Habs are relying on extraordinary young talents like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson and, soon, Ivan Demidov.

Of course, in the case of the latter two, there’s still no guarantee that they’ll establish themselves as well in the NHL as the former two. Hutson is off to a great start, but he still has a long way to go to truly be the Habs’ #1 defenseman in the long term. Sergei Gonchar agrees that, yes, Hutson has potential, but he still has a number of important things to polish and improve in his game.

[content-ads] Indeed, as he explained in an interview with RG Media’s Daria Tuboltseva, the former NHL star defenseman sincerely believes that the next few seasons will be critical in Hutson’s development.

For Gonchar, there’s no doubt that Hutson has demonstrated incredible defensive skills, but he will now have to concentrate on building his defensive game and becoming physically stronger.

Author of 811 points in 1301 career NHL games, and former defensive development coach with the Vancouver Canucks, Gonchar knows what he’s talking about, and what he believes will be most important for Hutson is finding a way to toughen up for the playoffs:

“He needs to develop his defensive game and get physically stronger. Cale Makar is tougher. In the playoffs, toughness is the key.”

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Sergei Gonchar

So it’s understandable that despite Hutson’s incredible 66-point rookie season, in addition to his Calder Trophy, Gonchar remains cautious and has some reservations. The Canadiens’ Russian former defenseman (2014-2015) certainly sees great potential in Hutson, but he believes the latter will have to work hard to be a complete defenseman despite his size. Fortunately, we all know that Hutson works extremely hard, and never stops.

He’s always on the ice, and that was the case this summer once again, so we can be sure that #48 knows what he needs to improve and fine-tune in his game.[spacer title=’En Rafale’] – Bravo!

– Big foul from the ghost!

– Whew. That’s tough…

– To be continued for those interested.