{"id":470049,"date":"2025-06-10T12:20:49","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T16:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=470049"},"modified":"2025-06-10T12:20:49","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T16:20:49","slug":"lane-hutson-awarded-the-calder-trophy-for-2024-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/06\/10\/lane-hutson-awarded-the-calder-trophy-for-2024-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Lane Hutson Awarded the Calder Trophy for 2024-25"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a big day as Montreal Canadiens<\/a> defenceman Lane Hutson<\/a> has been awarded the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie for 2024-25. The worst-kept secret in hockey is out of the bag. Hutson has been one of the best players in the NHL this season despite being just 21 years old. The Holland, Michigan native inspired the Canadiens blueline to its first Stanley Cup Playoff berth in four years. With sox goals and 60 assists for 66 points, Hutson was awarded with the trophy today.<\/p>\n

Hutson’s unique skill set<\/a> has been a driving factor in his success this season. Despite being undersized at just 5’9, he’s a very silky skater. Combine that with a rare ability to get pucks through traffic and an incredible hockey sense, and you get a Calder Trophy winner. The budding star<\/a> becomes the first defenceman to win the award since Moritz Seider<\/a> and the first Canadiens player to win it since Ken Dryden<\/a> in 1972.<\/p>\n

Lane Hutson’s Competition<\/h2>\n

Hutson beat out budding young players like Macklin Celebrini<\/a>, Matvei Michkov<\/a>, and Dustin Wolf<\/a> to win the award. Celebrini started the year behind the eight-ball for the Calder because of a hip injury. Michkov struggled under a demanding defensive system imposed by John Tortorella. Wolf was sensational for Calgary<\/a>, but the deciding factor here was the playoffs. Hutson ended Montreal’s postseason drought, which none of the other rookies did.<\/p>\n

That isn’t to say Hutson wasn’t deserving. He was the leading scorer among all rookies as a defenceman. While his defensive game needs improvement, the player’s offensive talents have already made him an exceptional power-play quarterback. Expectations will be sky-high for year two in Montreal. Martin St. Louis<\/a> and the Canadiens’ coaching staff will have their work cut out for them to ensure that this player continues to improve. He’s an integral part of that roster moving forward.<\/p>\n

Other Canadiens Winners<\/h3>\n

Lane Hutson becomes the seventh Canadiens winner of the Calder. He joins the aforementioned Dryden, Jacques Laperriere<\/a>, Bobby Rousseau<\/a>, Ralph Backstrom<\/a>, Bernie Geoffrion<\/a>, and Johnny Quilty. To be the first winner of this award in 50 years for an Original Six-team is quite an achievement. He’ll go down in the annals of history of the most successful franchise in the NHL. However, that isn’t where the incredibility of this feat ends.<\/p>\n

Since the 2005 lockout, Hutson is the fifth defenceman to win the Calder. That joins Tyler Myers<\/a>, Aaron Ekblad<\/a>, Cale Makar<\/a>, and Seider. One thing the rest of the defecseman had that Hutson didn’t was draft pedigree. All of the other defenders to win it since the lockout were high first-round picks. Hutson was a Day Two selection. While that was likely because of his size, overcoming that rejection on Day One is a sign of determination. That’s a great asset for a hockey player.<\/p>\n

Presentation<\/h3>\n

Hutson was awarded the Calder at a family dinner<\/a>. Despite not being someone who enjoys surprises, this was one the hockey world needed. It was almost a foregone conclusion that Hutson was going to win, and he got what he earned. The NHL’s best rookie in the 2024-25 season is officially Lane Hutson. That’s also reflected in the ballots of the Professional Hockey Writers Association voters.<\/p>\n

Out of the 191 ballots, Hutson collected 165 first-place votes. The other 26 voters all had him second. That’s a sign of a player that unified the PHWA in their play. He’s helped bring a rebuilt giant back to the beginning of the promised land. The next step for Hutson is to help the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup, something the organization hasn’t done in 33 years. Can that be the next drought he ends?<\/p>\n

Main photo by: Bob Frid-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a big day as Montreal Canadiens defenceman Lane Hutson has been awarded the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie for 2024-25. The worst-kept secret in hockey is out of the bag. Hutson has been one of the best players in the NHL this season despite being just 21 years old. The Holland, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5530,"featured_media":464661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4547,34,4548],"tags":[700,7307,5927,1146],"class_list":["post-470049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canadiens","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","tag-calder-trophy","tag-lane-hutson","tag-montreal-canadiens-news","tag-nhl-awards"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5530"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470049"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":470052,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470049\/revisions\/470052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}