THUNDER BAY – Watching the Nashville Predators compete in the Stanley Cup final was tough, says Carter Hutton.
It was the Predators who gave the Thunder Bay goaltender his first real shot in the National Hockey League, the 31-year-old spending three full seasons in Music City before signing last summer as a free agent with the St. Louis Blues.
His new team was coming off a trip to the Western Conference final and all signs pointed toward a possible repeat performance – or maybe even a step or two further.
Instead, with Hutton glued to the bench backing up starter Jake Allen, the Blues were vanquished in six games in the second round by Nashville, who would go on to fall in the Stanley Cup final to Thunder Bay’s Matt Murray and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It was mixed emotions, Hutton said.
“Playing in Nashville, I thought they could do it. Obviously there was a little bit of jealousy. You want to be there with the Blues, but at the same time, it was a lot of good friends, so I was pulling for them,” Hutton said.
“Obviously watching Matt from Thunder Bay, I was pumped to see him win again, but for Pekka (Rinne), Roman Josi, Colin Wilson and James Neal, those four guys are probably some of my closest friends in hockey. Seeing them do well, I was pretty happy for them.”
Playoff frustrations aside, it was a breakthrough season of sorts for Hutton, who inked a two-year, $2.25-million deal last summer with the Blues, in part because the franchise needed to expose at least one goaltender with NHL experience during the expansion draft welcoming the Vegas Golden Knights to the league.
Hutton found his way into 29 games with St. Louis, posting a 13-8-2 record with four shutouts, a 2.39 goals against average and a .913 save percentage.
“I thought at times in the year they relied on me and I thought that was kind of why I left Nashville and went to St. Louis, to take on a bigger role, and I embraced it,” Hutton said.
As per the plan, Hutton was exposed to the Golden Knights in the expansion draft, but Vegas plucked Calvin Pickard, J.F. Berube and Marc-Andre Fleury to play between the pipes, grabbing instead forward David Perron from the Blues roster.
Still, it was a stressful few days, Hutton recounted.
“It was weird, especially for me,” he said. “I didn’t have much worry earlier on, and then all of a sudden a couple of weeks before you start hearing your name thrown around on the NHL Network. I think for my girlfriend and I it was a little bit tough. She’s a little more worried.
“We have a nice house in St. Louis and things are set up. Things are simple. She has lots of friends, I have my teammates. It was definitely something unique to be a part of, but we’re definitely glad we stayed in St. Louis.”
