MVP

     

    The other day, some NHL pundit or other decided it's already time to start speculating on who will win the Hart Trophy as league MVP in the upcoming hockey season. All the expected names were there: McDavid, Draisaitl, Kucherov, Celebrini. Even though some are calling the Canadiens a serious Stanley Cup contender, however, not one of the Best Bargain Boys made the list.

    It's funny, because the Hart is supposed to be awarded to the player who's most valuable to his team. It's not necessarily the best player in the league who should win it, but the one who's the most irreplaceable to his teammates.

    That raises an interesting question. If no Habs player is a favourite for league MVP, who's the team's own most valuable?

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    Remember the Andrei Markov Factor? For several years in the early-2010s, as Markov went, so went the Canadiens. Admittedly the team back then wasn't all that great and the success they did have seemed to be a happy accident rather than a planned strategy. At that time, Markov was the steam that moved the train. When he was out of the lineup, the Habs lost more games by wider margins and the special teams saw marked drops in production. Fans and teammates lived in fear that losing Markov for long periods could tank a whole season.

    These days there's much more balance throughout the lineup, so it's hard to choose which Canadiens player would have a Markov-esque impact on his team's fortunes. We know it's not Kaiden Guhle or Kirby Dach because the team has still managed to perform without them for long stretches. No, the team MVP is the guy who has no replacement on the roster.

    If  (heaven forbid) Cole Caufield was out for a while, there are other offensive players to pick up the slack. It would hurt, but the team would probably survive without too much of a setback. If a goalie got hurt, there are two other guys who can fill in, at least temporarily.

    Now, imagine if the missing guy was Nick Suzuki. He wins more than half his faceoffs, and he takes the most draws on the team. He plays 20+ minutes a game, including on both special teams and drives the first line with Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky. He's the Habs' first hundred-point player since Mats Naslund in 1986, is the current Selke holder for his excellent two-way play and rarely takes dumb penalties. Taking him out of the lineup would be a serious blow to the Canadiens' hopes of contention.

    Even worse for the Habs, though, would undoubtedly be the loss of Lane Hutson.

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    When you watch Hutson in isolation, you realize the deep value in his game. Playing 24+ minutes a night, starting every power play, scoring almost a point a game...all those will qualify the former Calder winner for a Norris Trophy at some point.

    What makes him completely irreplaceable is his impact on the entire game...not just one aspect of it. Watch him on a breakout play, and he's seeing seams and opportunities nobody else does, yet he never seems in a big rush to make a creative pass. He calms the game like Nicklas Lidstrom used to do in Detroit. When Hutson's not on the ice, a sure-thing zone clearance isn't quite a sure thing anymore. So when you imagine him not in the game at all, you can see a Hutson-shaped hole in the lineup that's bigger than the player himself.

    Now think of his defensive game. He's unafraid to join the attack he (most often) starts, but when the play turns quickly you see Hutson, head down, booking it back into his own zone and using his body position and his stick to break up opposing attacks. Plus/minus isn't indicative of quality play in itself, but Hutson's +36 last year tell us good things happen when he's on the ice.

    Perhaps the most compelling thing about Hutson's game is his intelligence. A man of his slight stature can't survive in the NHL unless he's pretty bloody smart and aware. Little things, like Hutson diving into the net to help Jakub Dobes hold his skate to the post and prevent a goal, are details that wouldn't occur to the vast majority of players. He's a great skater and has wonderful vision, but neither of those are what make him so very special. It's those things added to his immense capacity to read the game and react before anyone else figures out what he's up to that cause him to stand out.

    The captain is certainly a guy whose absence from the lineup would be sorely missed, but Hutson is at a level of importance to the way this team plays that's completely irreplaceable. That's why he's the Canadiens' MVP and by virtue of being so valuable to his team should be a legitmate Hart contender as well.