SO MUCH FOR HUTCH

The Wolf Pack's clear MVP and team captain last season is now officially off the market. According to the Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times, Andrew Hutchinson has signed a two year, one-way deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning and WILL be an NHL player again next season.

Hutchinson was tremendous last season in all aspects of his game. Offensively he was a force to be dealt with. He was especially outstanding on the power play. His numbers as a power play QB were inspiring as he netted 13 of his 18 goals and assisted 24 of his 46 assists. Hutchinson established new season highs for goals (18), assists (46) and points in a season by a D-Man (64) breaking teammate Thomas Pock's record.

Among his long list of accomplishments last season, Hutchinson became the first Wolf Pack defenseman ever to register a hat trick in a game at Providence on Feb. 8, and had the first five-point game by a Hartford blueliner on Feb. 29 vs. Norfolk.

When he arrived in Hartford, the 6'2" 209 pounder was a defensive nightmare. He was so slow that at practice Stephen Hawking blew right past him. But, all kidding aside, on the defensive side of the ledger is where he made his biggest gains. He started off the season as nothing more than a pylon, but his dedication and hard work with the coaching staff paid massive dividends to that aspect of his game. He worked himself into a solid defender. By the end of the season, Hutchinson was on the ice in virtually every key defensive situation. Hutchinson finished in the Top 2 overall behind partner Cory Potter (+33) for the league lead in the plus/minus category amongst D-men and was in the Top 5 overall at plus-28. In April, the Illinois native won the coveted Eddie Shore Award as the AHL's top defenseman for the 2007–08 season. The Eddie Shore is the equivalent of the Norris trophy.

The right handed D-Man was also honored as a member of the 2007-08 AHL First All-Star Team.

Hutchinson was originally acquired in July of 2007 along with Joe Barnes and a 3rd round draft pick in the 2008 draft in exchange for Matt Cullen.

Bob Crawford has an interesting interview with Pack Head Coach Ken Gernander at Hartfordwolfpack.com

(Andrew Hutchinson photo courtesy of theahl.com)

Comments

[elsie]

Yes losing Taylor, Hutch, Baranka, Liffiton means a major makeover.
Still here: Pock, Potter, Sauer, Sanguinetti, and Busto. There's also possibly Brian Fahey, maybe even Nick Pageau, who we've been told impressed at Prospect Camp.
There's also Matt Waddell, who played 12 games last year and was 'protected' by Charlotte.

Was Clayton Barthel's 'Pack pact for only one year?

Not quite the full complement for the whole season, but a reasonable core.

And it means the key prospects will have lots of responsibility.

[Mitch Beck]

As always Elsie it's good to hear from you.

At least as of today, Dave Liffiton hasn't been lost by the team. I'll double check on it though.

As far as the names you mentioned, Pock may well be back but there's a chance he could be the extra player in NY since he can play both forward and defense. That is of course assuming that the Rangers don't resign Jason Strudwick. Brian Fahey will be doing playing the part of Andrew Hutchinson just not as well. The rest are a whole lot of question marks. There's some talent in there, but a "reasonable core," I'm not so sure. Remember that Sauer won't be back till the earliest probably late December or January because he had major reconstructive surgery on his knee. As for Barthel we won't really know about him till training camp.

[elsie]

Agreed Liffiton is not 'lost' yet.

I didn't realize that Sauer was going to be out so long. I wanted the Rangers to sign his brother.

Is Fahey confirmed? Sometimes I suspect that one unconfirmed statement on the Internet gets cloned, then assumed as true.

After posting, I did see a note that said that Barthel's last contract was only for 1 year.

Thanks for all the efforts.

[Jeremy]

Personally I think he'd have been a serviceable 6 or 7 in New York, certainly an upgrade on Struds!

Thanks for correcting Mr. Weinman. I was about to drop him an e-mail.

[Mitch Beck]

Elsie:

I am working at finding out if Fahey is indeed coming or not.

If you're talking about a certain blogger, who shall remain nameless but who has a reputation of just making things up, it wouldn't surprise me if that's the case here.

Jeremy,

Please don't take what I wrote as "correcting Mr. Weinman." Sam has forgotten more than I know about hockey. The difference is that I got to see Hutch play every game last year including the pre-season, and I saw how invaluable he was and the talent that he has. I think he's more of a four than a six or seven. His shot and his skills offensively would have me putting him on the ice more than a six would be.