The Washington Capitals are ready to sign Cole Hutson if he decides this season is his last in the NCAA with Boston University.
Hutson is currently in the middle of his sophomore year with the Terriers, posting 21 points (7g, 14a) through his first 21 games. Caps general manager Chris Patrick updated where the team stands with their top unsigned prospect when he met with the media on Friday.
“Yeah, I’d say very similar to the situation with [Ryan Leonard] last year, where I’m leaving the player alone but definitely staying in touch with his representation,” Patrick said. “If he’s ready to come out at the end of the season, we’ll be ready for him.”
The 19-year-old defender will be eligible to sign an entry-level contract with the Washington Capitals after the season. The Caps will be hoping he takes after his older brother, Lane Hutson, who played just two seasons at BU before signing with the Montreal Canadiens in 2024.
Hutson has spoken about how he’s in no rush to end his college career, but also recently mentioned that he texts with Capitals forward Ryan Leonard “pretty much every day,” and that he would be super excited and nervous to join Leonard with the Caps “if I’m lucky enough.” He’s also previously shared the current Caps players he is most excited to one day play with, so his future with the team doesn’t sound uncertain.
“Players on the team just randomly text sometimes to check in,” Hutson said last month. “Someone from the staff or players reaches out every day or every other day. It shows the kind of organization they’ve built. It’s a lot of pressure, but good pressure. They trust you not to let the culture dip. That’s really cool and super exciting.”
Hutson recently returned to college after playing for Team USA at the 2026 World Juniors, where he suffered an unfortunate injury that required him to be stretchered off the ice. Patrick told the story of how he learned the promising defender had been injured in the middle of the Capitals’ game against the New Jersey Devils on December 27.
“We were playing New Jersey, and I had the game on in the GM booth, and so I turned to look, and I saw a player down in front of the net,” Patrick said. “You see the stretcher out, it’s the last thing you want to see. And then I looked at my phone, and I’ve got text messages saying it’s him. It was definitely really scary.
“But, yeah, I had no idea what had happened, right? So I didn’t know, did he get, like, steamrolled by somebody, or what happened? And then I saw what happened – such a fluky play. But I was glad to see him get back fairly quickly from that scary scene. He’s back in college playing, and I know he’s hoping for a really strong second half for BU.”
The Capitals believe in Hutson’s NHL future so much that keeping him with their organization was one of the primary reasons Patrick and his staff didn’t harder pursue a trade for star defenseman Quinn Hughes. Patrick revealed that the Caps indeed checked in on what it would cost to acquire Hughes, but balked at letting a prospect like Hutson go.
“I really like Cole Hutson, and I want to see what he can do in a Washington Capitals sweater,” Patrick said. “So that wasn’t a piece that I was willing to move in that kind of trade.”
Hutson has 12 games remaining in the 2025-26 regular season with the Terriers and will hope to make a run in the NCAA tournament in March and April. However, BU isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire this season with their 11-10-1 record, so they may need a special Hockey East conference tournament run to qualify for the big dance.
If the Terriers do not earn an automatic bid by winning their conference tournament, they’ll need an at-large bid from the NCAA selection committee. With their current record, that would be very hard to see happening, which could lead to the end of their season in early March.
