Stu Cowan: Canadiens' Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux look ready to shine

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Not surprisingly, defencemen Lane Hutson and Logan Mailloux have been two gamers who stood out because the Canadiens’ rookie camp received into full swing Thursday in Brossard.

Of the 23 gamers invited to the camp, which opened Wednesday with medical and bodily testing, Hutson and Mailloux are the 2 with the perfect likelihood of creating the Canadiens this season. Each of them received their first style of the NHL final season, with Hutson taking part in within the Canadiens’ final two video games and Mailloux taking part in within the season finale.

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Neither of them regarded misplaced in these video games.

Canadiens GM Kent Hughes traded two defencemen over the summer time — Jordan Harris to Columbus and Johnathan Kovacevic to New Jersey — to open spots for youthful gamers on the blue line.

Hutson arrived in Montreal about three weeks in the past and has been skating since then with among the Canadiens regulars at Brossard’s CN Sports activities Complicated. The 20-year-old has additionally been in search of an house and stated his mom will stay with him this season, whether or not he’s taking part in for the Canadiens or the AHL’s Laval Rocket.

“I haven’t lived along with her in a very long time and I believed it will be good for her to come back,” stated Hutson, who performed the final two seasons at Boston College and earlier than that spent two years with the U.S. Nationwide Improvement Staff in Michigan. “Possibly (she’ll) keep for residence video games after which return to Chicago after we’re on the street.”

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Hutson stood out on the ice throughout drills Thursday for a similar causes he posted 30-67-97 totals in 77 video games during the last two seasons at Boston College — his velocity, shiftiness, imaginative and prescient and passing. Mailloux stood out due to his measurement (6-foot-3 and 220 kilos), velocity and skill to cowl quite a lot of ice effortlessly whereas additionally throwing a number of stable bodychecks.

Dimension is the massive query mark for Hutson, who’s now listed at 5-foot-10 and 162 kilos. It was fascinating to see Hutson and Mailloux paired collectively on defence for almost all of Thursday’s drills, which makes it appear seemingly they are going to be collectively when the Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs rookies sq. off in two Prospect Showdown video games Saturday (1 p.m., RDS) and Sunday (1 p.m., RDS) on the Bell Centre.

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“He strikes very nicely, so he’s very straightforward to play with,” Hutson stated about Mailloux. “Kills quite a lot of performs. I feel we all the time can cowl for one another or assist one another out by pushing guys into dangerous ice.”

Mailloux described Hutson as enjoyable to play with.

“He all the time finds a technique to get the puck in your stick,” Mailloux stated. “We type of complement one another’s video games rather a lot. He’s a smaller man and I’m a much bigger man. Possibly we might type of carry some physicality and a few offensive upside. However I feel each of our video games are rounded out defensively sufficient to play collectively as nicely.”

Whereas Hutson has a measurement drawback, he famous that not each defenceman within the NHL defends the identical approach and that certainly one of his strengths is angling gamers.

“I really feel like I can shut performs shortly,” Hutson stated. “If there’s not a man I can impose bodily, I push him into a tricky space and attempt to take the puck off him. With the ability to journey guys out and switch pucks up is one thing that I’ve been engaged on and one thing that I’m going to proceed to work on as nicely.”

A giant adjustment for Hutson this season — whether or not he’s with the Canadiens or the Rocket — is the quantity of video games after making the leap from the NCAA and taking part in solely 38 video games final season. Mailloux, 21, has a full season of professional hockey with the Rocket beneath his belt after posting 14-33-47 totals in 72 video games final season.

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Whereas Hutson realizes the professional schedule shall be a lot harder, each bodily and mentally, he’s not overly involved.

“Not a lot concern, simply pleasure,” he stated. “In faculty you lose a sport, you must wait round all week to play one other one. The skilled schedule, you lose one you possibly can’t dwell on it. You bought to prepare for the subsequent sport. So simply pleasure.”

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Mailloux stated he went by ups and downs final season in Laval — each individually and as a workforce — and realized helpful classes about what it takes to be a professional, exhibiting up day by day with a aim to make each your self and your teammates higher whereas all the time competing laborious. He additionally realized that little particulars — and the power to do them on a constant foundation — is what can separate guys who play within the NHL and people who don’t.

His aim is unquestionably to make the Canadiens this season.

“However I feel I type of realized final 12 months throughout camp and through the entire 12 months that you simply simply received to try to get a bit higher day by day,” Mailloux stated. “Positively throughout camp simply try to present what I received is sweet sufficient that I may be right here the subsequent day.”

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