Jack Todd: Adapting to playoff brutality will be key for rising Canadiens star Lane Hutson
Begging the question: Can a player like the 5-foot-9, 162-pound Hutson thrive at playoff time?
It would be wrong to assume that Hutson can't adapt his quicksilver talents to the post-season. Most of the hockey world has been wrong about this young man from long before he was drafted. He is one tough cookie and I will never forget the beatdown he put on a 6-foot-5, 235-pound Swede at the world juniors.
The shift in play from regular season to playoffs is unmatched in any of the other North American leagues. It's open season on skilled players, especially those like Hutson who don't have the sheer bulk to make offenders pay.
Before the playoffs started, I saw a clip of Paul Maurice behind the Florida bench that gives the game away. There was Maurice during last season's playoffs, as urbane and articulate as any coach in reducing the game to its brutal essence, dropping F-bombs left and right while urging his players to do one thing: 'Hit!'
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