NHL.com’s fantasy staff continues to cover the latest trends and storylines in the League through the lens of NHL EDGE puck and player tracker stats.
Today, we compare the underlying metrics of defensemen Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks and Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens ahead of their matchup Saturday at Rogers Arena (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, TVAS).
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Quinn Hughes and Lane Hutson are two of the NHL’s most-dynamic defensemen, and each ranks in the upper echelon in various advanced stats categories.
Hughes, 26, is a past Norris Trophy winner, voted the NHL’s top defenseman in 2024, while Hutson, 21, won the Calder Trophy last season as the League’s top rookie. Hughes finished second in the Calder race in 2019-20 behind Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche.
Saturday will mark the second head-to-head matchup of their young careers; the first came on Jan. 6 in Montreal, when both players had multiple points and led their teams in ice time as the Canadiens won the game, 5-4 in overtime. Hutson had one of his two primary assists on the overtime goal by Montreal captain Nick Suzuki.
Among defensemen who have played at least one NHL season, Hughes ranks second in career points per game (0.94) behind Makar (1.08), with Adam Fox of the New York Rangers (0.85; third) and the up-and-coming Hutson (0.82; fourth) next on the list. But, this season, Hutson is second among defensemen in points (eight in nine games), ahead of Hughes (five in eight games), and leads NHL defensemen in even-strength points (seven; Hughes has one).
