The Wraparound panel discusses Lane Hutson's case for the Calder Trophy. Montreal Canadiens' power forward Juraj Slafkovsky is a refreshing voice in the dressing room. Too often, hockey players serve up the same clichés over and over but not the young Slovak and that's also true in his latest blog. The January 10th edition was compiled and written by NHL.com writer Jean-Francois Chaumont and included quite the comment about rookie Lane Hutson. Slafkovsky starts by saying he was asked a while back if he would pay to see the Canadiens play - this was a while back after a huge defeat- and he replied that he would, in the blog, he explains he'd pay just to see Hutson dish out his saucer passes. Just like Slafkovsky, Hutson was drafted by the Canadiens at the 2022 draft, but while the big forward was picked first overall, the diminutive blueliner slipped all the way down to 62nd overall. The winger said: I like to say it as a joke, but I would have picked him first overall and sometimes, I would have picked myself at 62nd overall! The European forward goes as far as saying Hutson completely changes the image of the team and he's not wrong. With Hutson in the lineup, the Canadiens have a much more dynamic attack and his savvy plays are at times worth the price of admission on their own. Unsurprisingly, Slafkovsky also talked about the Canadiens trading his good friend Justin Barron [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/latest-news/nashville-predators-trade-alexandre-carrier-to-montreal-canadiens-for-justin-barron] and how he felt about the trade at first. Eventually though, sadness made way to rationality and he realized they had acquired a very good defenseman with more experience in Alexandre Carrier. This is the first time the Canadiens trade one of their young players but it won't be the last time and learning to cope with that is part of learning to be a pro in the NHL. Kent Hughes was clear in his mid-season review, you can't flood a team with young players or it will regress, meaning that the Habs player can expect the organization to be aiming for a certain balance in their lineup. Follow Karine on X @KarineHains [https://x.com/KarineHains] Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/karinehains.bsky.social] and Threads @karinehains [https://www.threads.net/@karinehains] Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/] for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens
