Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
Sure it wasn't obvious to take him the first round, and I can even see the top 45 being a question mark. But once the draft was in the 50s taking him there was obvious, he was clearly the best player left on the board.
Especially with the Flames pick, where at the time they had absolutely no offensive defenseman in the system as prospects.
Hutson was looked over because he was small - IIRC he broke the USNDP record for points by a d-man in his draft year. But he was only 5'8" so he got over looked.
I know it's not people's favourite model - but Byron Bader had him as the 5th highest draft year start probability that year. Look at the USDP team that year.
Howard - 82 points
Cooley - 75 points
Nazar - 70 points
McGroarty - 69 points
Gauthier - 65 points
Snuggerrud - 63 points
Hutson - 63 points
Casey - 33 points
The 6 forwards ahead of him were all 1st round picks. Casey who had 30 fewer points and was also a small d-man at 5'10" was still taken 10+ picks ahead of him.
In the end taking the gamble on Hutson's elite talent being enough was obvious once the picks were in the 50s, and Montreal is reaping the rewards now.
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I generally don't really buy into the "GM missed out on an obvious pick" (even with hindsight), but it is funny that under Treliving, that they did select the previous d-man who had also broken the USNDP record - Fox. He was only 5'10" at the time (which is why he fell, rather than telling teams he is only going to the NYR - that came out a few seasons later, rather than at the draft), and had questionable skating at the time. Whichever scout who fought for Fox either didn't like Hutson, or simply lost the argument at the time, as I am sure the Flames had eyes on Hutson.