Inside Scott Wheeler’s Bold 2022 NHL Draft Shake-Up: Which Stars Rise and Fall?

2. New Jersey Devils: LHD Lane Hutson

Actual draft pick: No. 62 (change: +60) to Montreal
My final ranking: No. 19 (change: +17)

What’s more valuable, a good but not superstar first-line center, or an elite offensive defenseman? I think there’s a case to be made either way, and debated re-drafting Hutson at No. 1 here, but I leaned Cooley for now (I could see myself switching when I redo this at the decade mark, though) and think the league probably would too, rightly or wrongly.

This is one I’m proud of, though, because it’s easier to find ways to talk yourself out of picking a player who profiled like Hutson did at the time than it is to stick your neck out for him (see: the other 31 teams talking themselves out of it and even the Habs taking Filip Mesar and Owen Beck before they took him) and I’ve stuck my neck out for him again and again over the years and trusted and nailed my evaluation of the player.

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