After spending several weeks living with Washington Capitals‘ veteran centerman Pierre-Luc Dubois, Cole Hutson is moving out to room with someone more around his age.
“I think he’s going to live with Leno next year,” Dubois revealed during Capitals Breakdown Day. “I think that’s what their plan is for now. [Hutson] is a pretty good cook, so maybe he could teach Leno a thing or two.”
Dubois graciously opened his house to Hutson in March — similar to the arrangement he had with Ryan Leonard the year before — after the rookie defenseman’s sophomore season at Boston University ended and he signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Capitals.
Dubois praised Hutson during the experience, calling him “super nice, polite, respectful.”
Dubois added, “He’s a little shy, but we’re really getting to know him more and more every day. Met his family, they’re super nice too, so it’s been really fun getting to know him, and my wife likes him too, so that makes it a lot easier.”
Hutson’s culinary skills were apparently off the charts compared to Leonard’s.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not too hard,” Dubois said. “Leno didn’t do anything. We said we’re going to start off with cereal, and [Hutson] made pasta for us, so he’s ahead of schedule.”
Hutson, who appears to be a superstar in the making, was incredibly humble when asked about the possibility of living with one of his best friends next year.
“We’ll see how the year plays out, but yeah, I’d love to,” Hutson said. “I know he asked me a few weeks ago, and I said I gotta make the team first. I’m not opposed to it, for sure.”
Hutson and Leonard have long been close, first becoming teammates with the US National Team Development Program as teenagers and then playing together in the World Junior Championship. Even though they later became rivals at their opposing universities — BU and Boston College — they stayed in close contact even when playing in different leagues.
“I would text Leno pretty much every day,” Hutson said. “We’re pretty close off the ice. So we’d always reach out to one another, just talking about life and whatnot.”
Leonard was even the first person to reach out to Hutson after he signed, and the pair hung out during Hutson’s first afternoon in DC. They routinely played Fortnite together in their time off the ice.
The two are so close, in fact, that they both filmed a coffee review in Salt Lake City on TikTok. Hutson even said he would consider playing for Team USA at the 2026 World Championship if he gets an invite.
“If Ryan’s going, I’d definitely be open to it,” Hutson said.
Early in his career, Tom Wilson famously used to live with a fellow bash brother, Michael Latta, and later with Andre Burakovsky, earning the group moniker “brobeans.”
While Wilson and Latta were paired up together, they even went viral in a December 2014 episode of Road to the NHL Winter Classic when they showed off their mostly-empty refrigerator and bragged about a 3-for-1 Costco ketchup deal.
“Maybe they should hire a chef or something to keep the fridge stocked,” Wilson quipped, recalling the moment over a decade later.
He then offered some real advice.
“It was fun years,” he added. “I think there’s an element to just, like I said earlier, just being a kid and enjoying. I mean, when you’re 19, 20, 21 in the NHL, you basically have like no responsibility except for performing on the ice. So just enjoy that. I mean, there’s plenty of times to grow up and chase your kids around later in life. I think they’ll have a blast together if they do that. We’ll have to keep an eye on them for sure, make sure they take care of themselves, stock the fridge, and don’t play too much video games and all that, but they’re good kids. They’ll be all right.”
As for the video games, Leonard has already promised he’ll be light on screens during the summer, but not because he’s reached peak adulthood after his first full season in the NHL.
“I probably won’t, honestly,” he said to the media. “The Xbox tends to get shut off for the summer. It’s golf time.”
