Canucks Army Year In Review: Ben Hutton

Coming into this season, very few people expected Ben Hutton to crack the Canucks’ roster. The 2012 fifth-round pick just finished his NCAA hockey career at Maine and was expected to be playing for the Utica Comets in the AHL. In last season’s year-end prospect reviews, Hutton ranked fourteenth amongst all Canucks prospects. However, after a strong training camp the blue liner found himself on the Canucks opening day roster. Hutton quickly endeared himself to the fans and the coaching staff with his strong play.

Turning heads all year, the then 22 year-old earned the trust of Willie Desjardins and the coaching staff quickly. Come February, Hutton was leaned upon heavily. He averaged over 21 minutes per game in the month of February and saw an increase in both his power play and even strength minutes. Hutton surpassed Alex Edler’s rookie season point totals, with 25 points in 75 games. 

Not only did Hutton woo over the Canucks, he also impressed Hockey Canada and earned an invite to represent Canada at the 2016 World Hockey Championships. In what was a disappointing season for the Canucks, the emergence of Ben Hutton on the blue line has been a much-welcomed surprise. 

While there is a lot to talk about when it comes to Hutton’s on-ice play, perhaps the most memorable part of Hutton’s season occurred off the ice. At the 2016 Dice and Ice charity event, Hutton lip-synced Barbie Girl and showcased some impressive dance moves. 

 

As previously mentioned, Hutton surpassed Edler’s rookie point totals with 25 points in 75 games. Hutton led the Canucks defensemen in total points as well as even-strength points (16). Hutton fired 104 shots on net, which ranks him second amongst Canucks defenders. Next season, Hutton is all but guaranteed to improve on his overall goal totals if he continues to put up shots at the rate he did. 

Corsi 

Scoring Chances 

Fenwick 

Hutton’s underlying metrics initially do not look good. All of them relative to the team are negative, which typically suggests the Canucks faired slightly better when Hutton is off the ice as opposed to when Hutton is on the ice. However, there are a few factors at play with how Hutton performed. 

Who Hutton played with heavily impacted his numbers. Via corsica.hockey, when Hutton was paired with Chris Tanev or Yannick Weber, the pairing was on the ice for slightly more shot attempts for than against. With Luca Sbisa and Matt Bartkowski, Hutton’s pairing was getting buried in their own end.

Hutton’s evolving role on the team influenced his numbers as well. As the Canucks saw injuries to their top defensemen, Hutton was thrown into their roles, seeing his time on ice increased while his underlying shot attempt numbers decreased. 

Overall, there is no need to be overly concerned over Hutton’s underlying numbers. A lot of it boils down to his increase in minutes and who he was playing with. As he gets more experience and the Canucks improve their back end, Hutton should be more of the above average blue liner he was with Tanev and Weber next season.

Ben Hutton had arguably the most impressive campaign by a Canucks rookie defenseman since the 2004-05 lockout. While his possession metrics leave a lot to be desired, part of it can be attributed to the fact this was his first full season in the NHL playing top minutes with lesser quality teammates. 

Hutton is an impressive player to watch. There have been numerous times where he has made excellent plays to not only keep pucks in at the blue line, but to set up scoring chances with them. Also, Hutton’s ability to move the puck out of his own end under pressure is something the team desperately needed. The 23 year-old will have some more pressure and expectations placed on him heading into next year. Hopefully that comes with some power play time, as Hutton generally looked solid on it and also generated a solid amount of high-danger scoring chances. 

As it stands right now, Hutton’s a legitimate second pairing defenseman on the Canucks. To get that out of a fifth round pick is phenomenal value, and there is reason to believe Hutton can develop into more. Given the type of player he is on the ice and the personality that he has off the ice, the Canucks have found a diamond in the rough.

Hutton is an extremely important piece to the puzzle moving forward, and his season was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise abysmal year.  

If you want to catch more of Hutton, him and Team Canada kick off the World Championships against U.S.A. this Friday, May 6th at 6:15 AM PDT on TSN 1, 3, and 4.