Ben Hutton has quietly become one of the most important players on the Canucks roster. In the wake of Alex Edler’s knee injury, Hutton has stepped up to play on the top pairing with Chris Tanev, regularly playing big minutes against the best competition the opposition can offer.
Hutton is now second on the Canucks in ice time per game, behind only Michael Del Zotto. He’s playing significant minutes in all situations, averaging nearly two minutes per game on the penalty kill and over three minutes per game on the power play. He’s performing well in all situations too: despite the tough competition, he has a positive shot attempt differential (corsi) at even-strength, he’s been the team’s best puck distributor on the power play, and he’s allowed the fewest shots on goal of any Canucks skater on the penalty kill. Jeremy Davis thoroughly explored just how good Hutton has been over at Canucks Army.
This is not entirely unexpected: underneath last season’s sophomore slump were some very impressive underlying numbers for Hutton that suggested he could play a key role in all situations. The only issue for Hutton is that he’s not producing points.
Hutton’s 25-point rookie season and obvious offensive upside gave Canucks fans hope that he might provide the scoring from the blue line that the team has lacked in recent years. But after a disappointing second season, he has just one point this year, an assist on the Canucks’ first goal of the season.
Here’s the thing: he’s been on the ice for a lot of goals. 14, to be precise. Only Chris Tanev has been on the ice for more Canucks goals this season, but of the 15 goals the Canucks have scored with Tanev on the ice, he has points on five of them. Somehow Tanev, the defensive defenceman with a lemon-cherry muffin of a shot, has five points, while Hutton has just one.
Let’s take a look at a few of the goals the Canucks have scored with Hutton on the ice and see how he contributed without picking up points.
Hutton contributed in a small way on a couple goals early in the season — keeping the puck in at the point, dumping the puck in from the neutral zone, etc. — but you can see his direct impact on this Bo Horvat goal in Boston.
Hutton pivots quickly to pick up the dump-in and moves it to Tanev. As soon as Tanev safely passes to Brock Boeser, Hutton takes off to join the rush. He never gets the puck, but goes directly to the net to provide a distraction to the defence and a screen to Anton Khudobin. Horvat likely doesn’t score here without Hutton, as he wouldn’t have had the room to cut to the middle and would have had to beat an unscreened goaltender.
If they gave out tertiary assists in hockey, Hutton would have one on this Derek Dorsett shorthanded goal. He and Tanev team up on a puck battle in the corner and Hutton makes a quick little reverse as his path behind the net is cut off. Tanev moves the puck to Sutter, leading to the 2-on-1 breakout.
Boeser and Baertschi got all the headlines in the Canucks big win over the Capitals, but Hutton had a strong game as well. Another tertiary assist for Hutton here, as he plays catch with Boeser at the blue line on the power play until a shooting lane opens up. Boeser’s shot doesn’t find the net, but a quick between-the-legs pass from Baertschi to Horvat does the trick.
If the scorekeepers at Rogers Arena really loved Hutton, they would have been super-charitable and given him an assist for this dump-in that led to Markus Granlund’s goal. Why don’t you love Hutton, scorekeepers? WHY?
Yet another tertiary assist. Hutton disrupts the entry at the Canucks’ blue line, forcing a tip-in, then pivots and gets back to the puck first, moving it quickly to Tanev. Two passes later and Dorsett finishes off his rebound with a wraparound.
Could it be another tertiary assist? Indeed, though this one is a bit more direct. Hutton takes the initial shot that leads to the goal, but it gets tipped by Boeser, then touched by Horvat before it gets to Baertschi.
You can see that several of these goals start with quick puck retrieval and puck movement in the defensive zone. Travis Green emphasizes quick puck movement out of the defensive zone and Hutton is one of the best defencemen at exiting the zone on the Canucks. The only player who has a higher percentage of zone exits with control is Troy Stecher, who has had significantly fewer touches of the puck this season.
It seems inevitable that the points will start to pile up for Hutton, particularly if the Canucks continue to use him on the Horvat power play unit. He consistently creates opportunities for shots with his puck distribution, even if he’s not the best shooter himself.
