Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson has been voted the 2025 Calder Memorial Trophy winner as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year, the league announced Tuesday.
It’s a fitting honor for Hutson, whose historic first season helped fuel Montreal to its first playoff berth in four years. His 60 assists and 66 points broke Hall-of-Famer Chris Chelios’ franchise records of 55 and 64, respectively, by a Canadiens defenseman in his first NHL season.
That offensive dominance by the 5’9″ rearguard, who fell to Montreal with the 62nd overall pick of the 2022 draft due to some overreactionary concerns about his diminutive frame, made him a clear No. 1 ROTY in voters’ eyes. While he wasn’t a unanimous first-place vote, 165 of 191 (86.4%) of ballots had him in the top slot, relays Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. No one else received first-place votes out of the other finalists for the award, Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf (15) and Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (11).
There was a clear demarcation between the top four and the rest of the pack. Outside of the finalists, only Flyers winger Matvei Michkov (eight second-place votes, 26 third-place votes) landed a top-three spot on voters’ ballots. The full voting breakdown, which involves a 10-7-5-3-1 points allocation as standard, is as follows:
- Hutson – 1,832 (165-26-0-0-0)
- Wolf – 1,169 (15-96-59-17-1)
- Celebrini – 1,104 (11-61-106-12-1)
- Michkov – 645 (0-8-26-151-6)
- F Cutter Gauthier (Ducks) – 92 (0-0-0-6-74)
- F Will Smith (Sharks) – 62 (0-0-0-2-56)
- F Logan Stankoven (Hurricanes) – 22 (0-0-0-2-16)
- F Zachary Bolduc (Blues) – 20 (0-0-0-1-17)
- F Jackson Blake (Hurricanes) – 9 (0-0-0-0-9)
- F Marco Kasper (Red Wings) – 7 (0-0-0-0-7)
- F Mackie Samoskevich (Panthers) – 2 (0-0-0-0-2)
- D Drew Helleson (Ducks) – 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
D Denton Mateychuk (Blue Jackets) – 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Hutson hitting the 60-assist plateau also tied him with Larry Murphy for the all-time record for most assists by a rookie rearguard and helped tie him for sixth in the league in scoring among all defenders this year with Lightning star Victor Hedman. He was the most efficient point-producer of the top nine highest-scoring defenders, averaging the lowest time on ice of the group at 22:44 per game.
While he’ll need to be paired with a strong, defensively grounded partner at even strength to achieve his maximum effectiveness at his peak, something Montreal seems to have found by icing Kaiden Guhle on his off side, he’s set up well to serve as the Habs’ No. 1 defenseman for years to come as they exit their rebuild with their new core. He’s also the first Canadien to win the Calder since Hall-of-Fame goalie Ken Dryden in 1972.
Image courtesy of Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images.
As an NYR fan I will say, he deserves it
Hutson deserved the Calder but I’d trade him in a heartbeat for any of Wolf, Celebrini or Michkov.
Get a grip chief….you’re kidding.
If you’re not…I want what you’re smoking.
I’d trade two of him for any one of them.
And that’s before he gets an absurd AAV, which is now coming.
Goaltending is the harder position to play and to have wolfs numbers, who almost got Calgary to playoffs when they should of been bottom 5, he def should of got it
Hutson is a stud. So is wolf and so is celebrini but I would not be trading him for celebrini. He had more points than the FWD. I am a big Michkov fan always touted him as the next Kuch and now my expectations are more tempered after a good but not unreal rookie campaign. I wouldn’t trade Hutson for him at this point. You got a potential Quinn Hughes on the backend. And while I believe Michkov will be good I see more a point per game player than a 100 point guy. Celebrini I still don’t see more than point per game out of him. Wolf is the only one I agree I would trade Hutson for. Franchise goalies are hard to find.
Kinda agree. Years from now people will wonder who won Calder if Celebrini & Michkov didn’t. Not saying he didn’t deserve it.
Not a Flames fan but I would have voted for Wolf.
I’m not a fan of small defenseman, They seem to disappear in the playoffs, But Hutson was the right call for the Calder.
No suprise here.
When writers vote for this…a lot of them are waaay out to lunch. Stupid politics seem to play a part instead of voting practical. 17 votes for 4th place on Wolf is absolutely proof of this. A 5th place? Really!?
I would like to know who threw that one.
I really don’t believe it’s “stupid politics “ as you believe.. I think there’s a bit of a bias against a one year wonder of a goalie as the position seems to define greatness with successive years of elite play .. I think a rookie goalie would need to be one of the main reasons a team went 2-3 rounds deep in the playoffs to win this award .. sorry that’s not bias .. that’s the position.
Sounds about right to me.