Background :Andrew Hutchinson was the 54th overall selection in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft , the 4th selection of the Nashville Predators. He has been traded
twice in his career going from the Preds to Carolina in 2005, and from the Hurricanes to the Rangers in July of 2007 . This offseason Hutchinson left the Rangers organization agreeing to a 2 year contract to play with the Tampa Bay Lightning .
Age : Hutchinson is currently 28 years of age (March 24, 1980 birthdate) and has spent parts of 3 seasons (03/04 -Nashville, 05/06 and 06/07 with Carolina ) at the NHL level .
Last Season :In 2007-08 while playing with Hartford (AHL) in the Rangers organization, he finally had the offensive breakthrough that was forecast of him . Playing in 67 regular season games, Hutchinson scored 64 points on 18 goals and 46 assists finishing 24th in the entire league in scoring .
Scouting : Hutchinson is an offensive defenseman , a guy who moves the puck confidently via the pass or rushes it out of the zone himself . He doesn't lack size at 6-2, 200 pounds, but using that strength when keeping the front of the net and the crease clean, has been a weakness .Not a flashy player by any means, he is poised, rarely looking like he's in trouble when working in his own zone. There is no question that he's a smart enough player with or without the puck that he should be an NHL regular . He possesses a hard slapshot which he keeps low to allow teammates to deflect and work off of . His head his always up, and that combined with his smarts makes him a well above average passer .
Prospects for the 08/09 season: Hutchinson figures to have a very good chance at a full season job on the Lightning blueline . The team last week dealt both Filip Kuba and Alexandre Picard (along with a 2009 first rounder) to Ottawa in order to bring in fellow blueliner Andrej Meszaros . That's 2 defenders leaving and only one coming back . Kuba was a 20 plus minute a game guy on the Lightning backline .
To this point he has had some short stints in the NHL, but never anything resembling a full season . In 95 career games at the top level, he has 10 goals and 23 assists .
The bottom line is ;
* He should be on your "watch" lists during training camp .
* He's a sleeper candidate on a team that should be capable of scoring a bunch and having a decent powerplay.
* He is 28 years old and has 352 games (AHL and NHL) as a pro . He's also in his fourth organization and may be running out of time and opportunities . If he's ever
going to break out the time is now .
* As a very late round pick in your fantasy draft, he might surprise with 35-40 points