The Canadian | Lane Hutson or the delicate landing in a locker room

(Detroit) Lane Hutson will experience, in the next 48 hours, accelerated learning: the NHL game, the routine of a game day among the pros, but also traveling by charter plane rather than bus, and the 20,000 spectators in the stands rather than 5,000.

The child-faced defender will also learn to integrate into an already united locker room. He will have to be careful not to crush his toes too much, even if ultimately, a player who has more experience than him will find himself in the stands to allow him to play.

If this learning begins on Sunday, it will be done elsewhere than at the arena, since the Canadiens players have time off from training, in order to explore the nooks and crannies of the Michigan metropolis. Or go to baseball, it depends.

Hutson will therefore have the morning training on Monday, as well as the games on Monday evening in Detroit and Tuesday in Montreal.

Earn respect

Due to the NCAA calendar, which concludes somewhere in March for the overwhelming majority of clubs, players from this network generally experience this arrival at the pros at the end of the season.

Jordan Harris was there two years ago. The defender reached an agreement with CH on March 26, 2022, a good month before the end of the season. We invited him directly with the big club. His audition lasted 10 games, and we must believe that it was convincing since he has, to this day, never played in the American League.

Left out during the first three games, he was finally inserted into the squad on April 2 in Tampa, replacing veteran Chris Wideman. Harris is a good time, since Wideman has the reputation of a friendly teammate. Harris therefore assures that no one made him feel like he was “stealing” someone else’s position.

If Harris was a 3 pick^e turn, Mike Matheson arrived in the Panthers organization as choice of 1^er tour, in April 2015. But it was in the school club, in San Antonio, that he concluded the season, playing five matches. It was also in the AHL that he spent almost the entirety of the following campaign.

Pointe-Clarais agrees that the arrival of a young person at the end of the season can cause a certain “discomfort”.

“But I think the guys understand it and know it happens every year,” Matheson added. The guy they busted for me might have been that lucky when he was younger. It’s not easy, but when you get your chance, you have to forget the rest. »

The recruit, however, has a long way to go to ensure the respect of his peers. “You have to be very respectful, be aware that you are the rookie and the others are veterans, ask questions and work hard. You have to show that you want to learn. »

In March 2019, Johnathan Kovacevic also landed in the AHL. But he ate his black bread, so this third-round pick of the Jets never really had to wonder if he was stealing a veteran’s job.

“They left no one behind, because I was the extra player!” remembers the great Ontarian. I only played the last game of the year, after the team was eliminated. That was the mentality there: you had to earn it. You’re not just going to come home from college like that. But if I had been a choice of 1^er turn, I would surely have played!

“The Jets wanted me to build relationships with the guys, the coaches, and get used to the schedule, the travel. It was hard. You arrive, you don’t feel like you’re part of the team, because you don’t know anyone and you weren’t there all year. As I stayed on the ice later for additional drills, I felt like an outsider. But by the end of the month, I had made some connections and once I got to camp the following fall, it really helped me, I knew the guys, the coaches. »

Reluctance

Our surveyed players therefore have good memories of their arrival in the pros, but the fact remains that, somewhere, someone is paying the price.

It could be a veteran left behind. In the case of Hutson, his arrival could mean the dismissal of Justin Barron to Laval. It can also mean that a player who spent the entire season in the AHL, hoping for a call-up at the end of the season, will not get the reward he hoped for. And the spectacular salary increase that comes with it.

All this to roll out the red carpet for NCAA players, who often arrive in a position of strength. If they are upset with the team that drafted them, they can either stay in college while their team’s rights expire, or let said team know that they have no plans to bring . This is what Adam Fox did, for example, with the Flames then the Hurricanes, finally ending up with the Rangers.

In our podcast Area exit on March 8, the mention of the arrangements necessary for Hutson’s arrival in Montreal made our collaborator Antoine Roussel jump. His comment was not aimed at Hutson specifically, but rather at how things are done with college players.

“It stinks in my face that a college player who has done nothing… He is given… not the keys to the city, but a chance that others don’t have, all to negotiate a CONTRACT. As a veteran, yes, it bothered me. You see young people who work hard in the American League, who want this chance and who don’t have it. It’s shaky and it causes your organizational chart to suffer. »

On March 26, 2023, Sean Farrell signed his entry contract with the Canadian, after two successful seasons at Harvard University. Martin St-Louis was particularly irritated when asked why he was joining his team, the day after a Habs victory. As a participant in Ultimatum, he used his ricochet to refer the question to his general manager. “That’s a question for Kent,” he had repeated dryly.

At first glance, however, it appears that Lane Hutson will be greeted cordially. When news of his contract signing broke, he received welcome texts from Matheson and CH captain Nick Suzuki, among others. “You see that this team has a very good culture,” said Sean Coffey, Hutson’s agent.

With Simon-Olivier Lorange, The Press