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There’s always been something a little unorthodox about Ben Hutton.

It starts with his personal mantra, “Go With the Flow,” and the smile which is permanently cemented to his face. That might be alright for a surfer dude. For an NHL defencemen, not so much.

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“He doesn’t seem overly stressed about anything,” says teammate Jannik Hansen, neatly summing about Hutton’s Spicoli-esque demeanour.

Then there’s his journey to the NHL. Hutton didn’t become a full-time defenceman until his second year with the fabled Kemptville 73s of the Tier II CCHL and didn’t really become a star in the league until he was traded to Nepean in his fourth year.

That summer, the Vancouver Canucks made him the 147th pick of the NHL draft; 49 defencemen were taken ahead of him.

Three up and down seasons later, he left Maine and Hockey Futures had this to say about the prospect from Prescott: “Hutton will report to the Utica Comets or the Kalamazoo Wings (of the East Coast league) to start the 2015-16 season. If he solidifies his defensive play he should become a full-time AHL player no later than 2016-17.”