Yes, yes, it is of that Hutson family.

Quinn is the oldest of the four Hutson brothers and is the only forward of the whole group. These are two very important facts for Edmonton Oilers fans when assessing the potential of this latest signing. To give you some perspective, he is two years older than Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens and four years older than his brother and Boston University teammate, Cole Hutson. So, his development trajectory is more limited if one looks at his scoring totals. Older, more mature players should score more. So while Quinn’s 23-27-50 in 37 games is very impressive, you would expect it to look a little better given his age.

The second fact from above is that Quinn is a forward. The other brothers are all defencemen. This may or may not make a difference in their professional careers, but it is noteworthy. Quinn Hutson is listed at 5’11 and 180 pounds and that looks about right, and he is a right-shot, right-winger. So he is in the range of Jordan Eberle or Matthew Savoie or Victor Arvidsson. This means Hutson’s biggest challenge without question will be his ability to handle the professional game as a smaller forward. The question I do have is whether Hutson will be able to win wall battles in the professional game. He’ll need to get bigger and work on his ability to leverage himself into good positions to move pucks and he’ll also need to keep his feet moving.

Now with those two facts addressed, let me circle back to my post yesterday on X. This was an excellent signing by the Oilers. This is essentially a draft pick for the Oilers in 2025. That’s a good thing given the team only has three picks currently. In addition, this is a player that has performed incredibly well at the collegiate level and that gives him a chance to contribute to the organization sooner rather than later. What could those contributions look like? Well, let’s roll the tape.

Oh yes. We always start with the skating. Hutson is not a dynamic skater like his brothers. It doesn’t mean he isn’t a good skater, he just lacks the four-way skating ability of his brothers. Here is a clip of his stride in slow motion.

The structure of his body is really good. His knees are over his toes and his hips are in a good strong position. His upper body has a nice slight tilt forward, but the chest remains upright. His arms are nice a tight to the body and the arm swing is nice and compact. It leads to a really strong, quick stride in a north-south manner.

There’s no question that Quinn Hutson can shoot the puck. It’s not a rifle of a shot, but it is very accurate and very deceptive. Hutson loves to change the angle of his blade to cause the goalie grief.

The other aspect of his scoring ability is he has a unique ability to find the quiet areas and get himself ready to get a shot off quickly. Watch this goal in slow motion. He almost coasts into a quiet spot and presents his stick early for a pass from his linemate. He then uses a great blade adjustment to re-direct the puck into the net.

Here is another great example of Hutson’s goal-scoring ability.

One area of Hutson’s game that has really improved is his passing. Hutson has always been something of a deferential player. He plays off the puck far more than he plays on the puck. This year has seen quite a bit of improvement in this area and it has allowed him to show off improved passing skills.

Here is another pass that Hutson makes often. He will win a puck battle and make a very quick pass to a linemate in a good spot.

This is a part of Hutson’s game that is fully matured. He has great patience and vision on the ice. Watch this shot assist that comes off him patiently backing into quiet space allowing his teammate to get to a good net front position. Once Hutson sees this, he sends a shot-pass to the net that ends up as a goal.

There is no question this part of Hutson’s game is NHL level. His understanding of time and space offensively is elite. His ability to find high-danger areas for himself or his teammates is very impressive.

This is a very good signing for the Edmonton Oilers. The team lacks both prospects and draft capital, and they’re getting older at an alarming pace. This signing gives the Oilers a player who may be closer to NHL games because of his age. While I think Hutson needs time in the AHL to work on his strength and his play-driving, there is a foundation of NHL skill here that could help the Oilers in the near future.