New England Hockey Journal - December 2015 - 10

JAFFE'STAKE
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hockey insight with nesn hockey AnALyst

BiLLyJAFFE

Hutton (u. Maine) turns heads
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Emmy Award winner Billy Jaffe is a studio analyst for NESN's coverage of the Boston Bruins. He has worked with Rogers Sportsnet, NHL Network, MSG Network and ESPN.
A Kent School and U. Michigan product, Billy captained silver medal-winning Team USA at the 1997 Maccabiah Games and won silver as head coach of Team USA in 2013.

10 NEw ENGLAND HOCKEY JOURNAL December 2015

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Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images; Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images (top)

HEN EdMONTON OILERS rookie uber-star Connor McDavid broke his collarbone on Nov. 3 while driving hard to
the net against the Philadelphia Flyers, and then word came
out the next day that he would require months to heal, the
entire hockey world began asking, "Now that McDavid is
out, who will win the Calder for Rookie of the Year?"
It was a fair, but not an easy question to answer. This year's collection of NHL rookies
was expected to be very strong before the season began, largely based on the presence
of McDavid and the other "can't-miss" prospect in former Boston University star Jack
Eichel. But what has made this year's rookie class even more special is the emergence
of many other late teens or early 20-somethings playing significant roles for their teams.
Max Domi (Arizona), Oscar Lindberg (New York Rangers), Dylan Larkin
(Detroit), Artemi Panarin (Chicago), Nick Ehlers (Winnipeg), Colton Parayko
(St. Louis) and Sam Bennett (Calgary) all have established themselves as important go-to guys on their teams and are playing big minutes.
But there is another rookie many people won't ever mention in this conversation because what he does isn't usually on the highlights and his role isn't flashy.
But that doesn't mean he shouldn't be included, as his play so far has been nothing short of stellar. I'm referring to former Maine Black Bears defenseman Ben
Hutton, who now works the blue line for the Vancouver Canucks after earning a
spot with amazingly consistent play in training camp.
After a very strong three-year (2012-15) showing in Orono (108 games, 65
points, All-Hockey East first team in 2013-14), the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Hutton
knew it was time to give the pros a try.
I recently talked to his former assistant coach at Maine, Jay Leach, about his
style, and Jay was effusive in his praise for Ben. He mentioned Hutton being
"a leader on and off the ice," his "perfect
skating style" and how he "takes ice, and
played half the game for us."
A native of Prescott, Ont., Hutton made
his pro debut at the end of the 2014-15 season, playing four games in Utica for the Canucks' AHL affiliate. The AHL experience
helped him acclimate to the pro game, and
he came into camp this September with
his confidence brimming. The Canucks
had no expectations for him to play in the
NHL, but his preseason performances continued to push him higher up the depth
chart. When I talked with various Vancouver management and coaches about him,
the words "smarts, patience, hockey sense, vision, instincts and no panic" were regularly used to describe his game. They simply couldn't afford to not have him in the lineup.
And Hutton, 22, didn't disappoint them. In fact, he rewarded the Canucks with
some of the team's most consistent effort through the first month and a half of
the season. He earned his first NHL point (an assist) in his first NHL game Oct.
7 as Vancouver beat Calgary. He averaged 18 minutes per game (tied for third
most for rookies at the time of writing), regularly played against some of the opponents' top players and all the while kept his calm demeanor.
The coaches continue to be amazed at his ability to play at such a high level at
what is considered the hardest position to develop with little to no AHL experience. They have made it a point to not overload him with things to "do or not do"
and let him just use his natural instincts to play the game.
Hutton's versatility has come through as a containment-style defender who
uses a long stick to control the area around him, but he also is eager to skate the
puck up ice and join the play. I have worked many Canucks games already this
season for Sportsnet, and his impact has been noticeable. That doesn't mean
there won't be bumps along the way for him, and Hutton probably won't win the
Calder Trophy when it's all said and done (point totals usually win), but there's
no denying that Hutton is a rookie worth talking about.

New England Hockey Journal - December 2015

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