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‘Records are meant to be broken’: Lane Hutson’s hunt for franchise immortality

Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

In the 1982-83 season, Mats Näslund set the Montreal Canadiens rookie scoring record with 71 points in 74 games. Only three years after that, Kjell Dahlin tied the record in 71 games. Perhaps fittingly, it was a now-established Näslund that set up the goal that Dahlin scored to tie his own record.

The fact that the two friends grew up a few houses apart in Timrå, and played street hockey with each other makes the story even more interesting.

As Lane Hutson has come to life after an acclimation period in the NHL, there is a real possibility that the young defender could break the record. Over the last 21 games he has been on a point per game pace, with about half the season to go he needs to keep that average to actually tie the record, and would need to surpass that to beat it outright.

“It will be tough for Hutson to break the record,” said Näslund to Eyes on the Prize, in a text Wednesday afternoon in Sweden. The “Little Viking” certainly isn’t cheering against the defender, saying that “records are meant to be broken.”

One thing that will be instrumental for a challenge for the record will be a working power play, and the fact that Patrik Laine needs to stay healthy as the power play is a completely different unit with the sharpshooting Finn at the left circle. Not to mention the obvious caveat of Hutson staying healthy himself.

Even if Hutson might not reach the two Swedes at the top of the table, he might come in third in the historical rookie rankings, behind the top defender Chris Chelios, and a certain flying demon, Guy Lafleur, who are both tied at 64 points.

While Hutson’s offence hasn’t been questioned, his defence has been better than expected. It has been strong in the second quarter of the season and he should be one of the favourites for the Calder Trophy. The addition of Alexandre Carrier has allowed Hutson (and the other Canadiens defenders) to settle in a more natural role highlighting his strengths.

With Hutson’s exploits, it certainly could raise the bar of expectations for a certain Ivan Demidov, who is expected to make the trip to North America next season. No team has had back-to-back rookie of the years since 1967 and 1968, but there is certainly a lot of reason for optimism in the short, medium, and long term for the Canadiens.

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