Washington Capitals prospect Cole Hutson attended one of his future team’s first-round playoff games last month, but not exactly as a fan of the Caps. The 18-year-old blueliner showed up to Game 3 between the Capitals and Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre wearing a Canadiens ugly Christmas sweater in support of his brother, Habs defender Lane Hutson.
While he wasn’t fully rooting for the team that made him a 2024 second-round draft pick, Hutson did meet with Caps head coach Spencer Carbery for a chat after the game. After making sure to joke about Hutson’s “terrible shirt,” Carbery revealed what his conversation with the talented defender was about on Breakdown Day, Saturday.
“It was just catching up with him, just talking to him about his year and seeing how he was doing,” Carbery said. “His dad was there as well, so chatting with him. I had met him, obviously, before. Yeah, just talking to him about the year. He obviously had a great year at BU, and I followed a lot of it and know some of the coaches there. And so just watching from afar his career and his successes and keeping tabs on how he’s doing.”
Hutson had an unbelievable freshman season with Boston University, notching 48 points (14g, 34a) in 39 games. He led all NCAA freshmen in scoring and was later named the 2025 Tim Taylor Award winner as Rookie of the Year.
The high-scoring defender announced his intention to return for his sophomore season at BU last month, citing his dream of winning a national championship. Hutson and the Terriers fell just one win short of achieving that dream at the 2025 tournament, losing 6-2 to Western Michigan in the national title game.
“Him going back to BU, hopefully has a great summer of training, and has another fantastic year, and follows up on his amazing freshman year that he had there,” Carbery said. “Another player that the future looks bright for him, right? Going to BU as a freshman to play the way that he did last year, and to go back now as a sophomore. Yeah, looking for him to continue to progress and grow.”
Like Ryan Leonard in 2024-25, Hutson could sign his entry-level deal and officially be in the Capitals’ organization at the end of next season. How soon will depend on how well BU does in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
The Missouri-born defenseman is currently with Team USA at the 2025 World Championship. Hutson, a 2025 World Juniors gold medalist for the US, played in a pre-tournament tune-up game for the senior men’s team but has not featured in any of the games since then after more NHL players were added to the roster.
