Has Lane Hutson Done Enough To Make Team USA?

Hutson has continued to deliver a strong performance in his sophomore season, and with the preliminary selection for Team USA just around the corner, it raises the question of whether he has done enough to earn a spot on the team.

Hutson has shown a ton of improvement this season when it comes to his shot, but there is no way that he will be relied upon for his shot when there are much better shooters on the backend, like Zach Werenski and John Carlson, who can be named to the team. If he were to be named to the team, it would likely be in a role as power play quarterback, but again, with both Werenski and Quinn Hughes likely ahead of him, his chances of making the team will surely drop. The truth is Werenski is just a more complete defenseman, as he is better in almost every aspect of the game than Hutson so far this season. Meanwhile, Hughes is older and plays a very similar game at a slightly more mature level than Hutson at the moment.

At the end of the day, there will likely only be room for 2 or 3 power play quarterbacks, so that would leave one spot for a guy like Hutson, Adam Fox, or John Carlson to take that role. The truth is in this modern NHL and likely also the Olympics, teams will run 4 forwards and one defenseman on the power play.

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The fact that he didn’t get invited to the orientation camp already puts the odds against him, but since his competition is proving that they can be just as good, if not better, offensively so far this season, it only hurts his chances more. He is currently 6th among all American defensemen in scoring so far this season with 4 goals and 21 points in 26 games. For his skillset and size, that just isn’t enough to make a team run by Bill Guerin, who historically likes going with bigger guys.

On the defensive end of the game, Hutson has shown that he can win battles against much bigger forwards pretty often, but so can the guys that he is in competition with for those spots, and there is no way that Hutson is selected for anything but a playmaker on the power play. Team USA can get guys like Charlie McAvoy and Jacob Slavin for the shutdown roles that will never be given to someone like Quinn Hughes or Hutson.

An injury could happen to a guy like Quinn Hughes, which could open up a spot for Hutson on Team USA, but with him currently being 6th among American defensemen in points, it just isn’t enough to make the team without any of the guys who have more points than him currently going down before the Olympic Games. It actually isn’t about him not doing enough but rather everyone that was ahead of him on Team USA’s radar is also putting similar numbers to Hutson. Hopefully I’m wrong but I just don’t see a spot for him at the Olympics.

Do you think Lane Hutson has done enough to stand out and make Team USA?