Another night, another milestone for Montreal Canadiens rookie blueliner Lane Hutson. On Saturday night, when he got the primary assist on Patrik Laine’s power play goal, Hutson got the 50th assist of his career, a total he took 68 games to reach.

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He became the second-fastest player to reach the milestone with the Canadiens behind Vincent Damphousse, who did it in 66 games back in 1992-93. However, he was 25 when he accomplished the feat and was already on his third team. Meanwhile, Hutson was still only 21 years old.

Even more impressive, he’s the fourth-fastest defenseman in NHL history to do it. Larry Murphy did it in 62 games with the Los Angeles Kings in 1980-81, Mark Howe in 65 games with the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80, and Stefan Persson in 66 games with the New York Islanders in 1977-78.

They were 19, 24 and 23 respectively. By the time he entered the NHL, Howe had played six seasons in the WHA, and, with Persson being Swedish, it took him a bit longer to get drafted and cross the ocean. All three went on to have great careers in the NHL.

For Comparison, New York Rangers blueliners Brian Leetch did it in 69 games, Colorado Avalanche quarterback Cale Makar did it in 71, Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes in 74 games, and former Montreal captain Chris Chelios did it in 74 games.

This is yet another category in which Hutson is in elite company. With 66 games played and 16 games left to improve his totals, the Montreal fan favourite still leads the rookie scoring race with 52 points, two ahead of San Jose SharksMacklin Celebrini and five points ahead of Philadelphia Flyers Matvei Michkov.

Hutson is currently on pace for 65 points. To put this number in perspective, back in 2015-16, Max Paccioretty led the Canadiens in points with 64. Something special is happening in Montreal. For years, we’ve been saying that the future was bright, and slowly but surely, the future is becoming the present and Hutson is hushering it in.

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