Hutson Talks Up Celebrini’s Work Ethic

At the top of the Calder Trophy race sit two former teammates, Macklin Celebrini and Lane Hutson, yet there’s no animosity or rivalry between the two, just a mutual respect and friendship.

Ahead of the San Jose Sharks’ game against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night, Hutson met with the media and discussed his relationship with Celebrini.

“He’s one of the nicest guys,” Hutson said. “[He] really cares about what he does. You see how hard he works, [and] it makes you want to work that much harder.”

Both of the Boston University alumni have had a dominant start to their NHL careers. Hutson has already established himself as one of the NHL’s most dangerous offensive defensemen at just 21 years old. In 59 games, the rookie blue-liner has 44 points, which puts him in 10th for points by a defenseman and leads all first-year players. He’s ahead of players like Dougie Hamilton, Roman Josi and former San Jose Sharks standout Erik Karlsson. Celebrini on the other hand, has just two fewer points than Hutson despite playing in 11 less games and is on a clear path to being an elite center despite being only 18 years of age.

When asked about competing against his former teammate for the Calder, Hutson replied, “It’s pretty cool. He’s a dominant player, so it’s cool to be in the mix with him.”

Despite being relatively close in age, Hutson and Celebrini had never played against each other until earlier this month when the Canadiens visited the San Jose Sharks.

In their first meeting on opposing sides, Celebrini opened the scoring with a power play goal in the first period. Hutson would get an assist on the equalizing goal, and his team would ultimately walk away with a 4-3 OT win. The Canadiens’ defenseman praised Celebrini’s performance: “I just remember him having the puck a lot, and him having more than one or two chances to score. He played a great game.”

The praise hasn’t been one-sided either. Macklin Celebrini showered Hutson with praise when Montreal visited San Jose.

And San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky, who previously coached Hutson at World Championships, had nothing but great things to say about the young defender.

“The creativity that he plays with, similar to a [Quinn] Hughes in Vancouver there, the way he works the blueline, he’s dangerous. He’s got some swagger to himself that is good for a defenseman,” said Warsofsky. “He picks up concepts really quickly with his play away from the puck being a smaller size defenseman. He’s not shy to get into confrontation and defend in his own end.”

While there’s still quite a bit of time for the Calder race to play out, it seems clear that the names Hutson and Celebrini will be near the top of the ballot regardless of how the remainder of the season goes. Both are showing they have not only what it takes to be in the NHL, but they have what it takes to be top players for a very long time.