“It’s Good Pressure”: Cole Hutson on His NCAA Growth, Cheering His Brother Lane, and Capitals Chats
Cole Hutson (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
There’s an easy way to describe Cole Hutson: big numbers, electric style, fun to watch. But that only covers the highlight clips. The Boston University defenseman is in one of those in-between years where everything is happening at once: continued production in the NCAA, a bigger role at the World Juniors, and constant contact with the Washington Capitals.
Last season, the story around Hutson basically wrote itself. As a freshman, he put up 48 points in 39 games for the BU Terriers. That’s the sort of stat you’d usually see from a top-line forward in the NCAA, not a teenager defending college rushes.
This year, as a sophomore and leader for BU, it’s about more than points. When Cole Hutson talks about his priorities for his game this season, he circles back to the same thing: being harder to play against.
“Coming into the year, that’s something I wanted to work on,” he said. “If I wanted to ever play at the next level, I had to tune up the defensive details.”
He’s not saying that just to sound coachable, though head coach Jay Pandolfo will tell you he very much is. He’s actually changed how he thinks in his own zone. Before, he leaned heavily on anticipation; jumping reads, trying to guess where the puck would be a second from now. That’s a great skill to have, but it can burn you if you cheat and miss.
“I think just being more alert in the D zone,” he explained. “A lot of times, I tried to predict where the puck was going instead of worrying about the open guy. Now I’m finding my guy and realizing I can’t let him get to the net.”
The difference shows up in the kind of minutes he’s getting. It’s not just power-play time and offensive-zone starts anymore. Coaches are throwing him out there to close out games, kill penalties, and live through the messy parts of hockey that never end up on social media. That trust also feeds into how he sees himself in the room.
“I feel like I’m always one of the louder guys in the room. I like to have fun and stir the pot a little bit,” he said. “But having that leadership role holds me accountable. I don’t want to let the team down.”
That’s the BU side of it. Overlay that with Team USA, and the upcoming World Junior Championships on home soil in Minnesota, and the stakes ramp up again.
At last year’s World Juniors, Hutson had 11 points in seven games. On paper, that screams “offensive star, but that isn’t what’s important to Hutson. When he talks about returning to the World Junior Championships as Team USA looks to repeat, he sounds more like someone who knows how intense tournament hockey can be.
“That tournament’s not all about points or who’s going to be MVP,” he said. “It’s about setting the right example on how to play winning hockey.”
The fit with Bob Motzko, who is very much a “take care of your own end first” coach, feels better now than it would have a year ago. Hutson has spent the season at BU doing the exact homework Motzko will be grading.
“Everything I’ve worked on this year has built me up to this tournament,” Hutson said. “Hopefully I can take it to World Juniors and help the team win.”
And beneath all the talk about systems and details, there’s the simple pull of getting back with the guys he came up with at the U.S. National Team Development Program.
“Those guys are unbelievable,” he said. “You have best friends for life after leaving that place.”
For him, the World Juniors isn’t just a stage. It’s a fun reunion, but also his biggest test yet.
Growth at BU, Eyes on Washington
If BU is where Hutson is building up parts of his game, Washington is where a lot of people expect that work to pay off.
The Capitals hold Cole Hutson in high regard, believing him to be a big part of the future on their blue line; and they aren’t alone. RG has learned that the Vancouver Canucks also liked Hutson, identifying the youngster as an interesting piece when the two sides were discussing a potential Quinn Hughes trade package, but the Minnesota Wild won that derby.
The Capitals weren’t eager to move who they believe to be their top defensive prospect at this point, and it’s easy to understand why. The connection between Hutson and the Capitals is already surprisingly personal for someone who hasn’t turned pro yet.
“Players on the team just randomly text sometimes to check in,” he said. “Someone from the staff or players reaches out every day or every other day. It shows the kind of organization they’ve built.”
That kind of steady contact can feel like pressure, but the way he frames it, it sounds more like a vote of confidence.
“It’s a lot of pressure, but good pressure,” he said. “They trust you not to let the culture dip. That’s really cool and super exciting.”
The Capitals are in a great spot as a franchise. They still have Alex Ovechkin, still want to win, but the core is aging. The next wave, guys like Ryan Leonard, Lynden Lakovic, Andrew Cristall and, soon enough, Hutson, are supposed to help make sure the team transitions without just falling off a cliff.
Leonard, a former rival at Boston College, isn’t just some fellow prospect for Hutson that he sees at camp once a year. He’s one of the constants in his phone.
“Me and him text pretty much every day,” Hutson said. “We’re pretty close off the ice. I checked in when he got hurt, and he gives me an inside scoop on what the pro life is like.”
That gives Hutson a preview of the world he’s heading toward: the travel, the routine, the expectation that you show up and perform every other night. It makes the NHL feel more real, but it also makes him a little more patient.
“I’m in no rush to get there,” he said. “I want to be ready when I get there. I don’t want to leave BU until I feel like I’m ready to be the best player on the ice.”
In other words, he doesn’t want his NHL debut to be the moment he figures out how to defend or lead. He’s trying to do that now, when there’s still room to make mistakes without a thousand cameras on every shift.
Lane, Demidov, Fowler and Montreal
Here’s where things get funny. On paper, Cole Hutson is property of the Washington Capitals. Online and in the minds of a lot of fans, he’s also deeply intertwined with the Montreal Canadiens; not because of anything contractual, but because of his unwavering loyalty to his brother.
Cole doesn’t pretend to be neutral about his relationship with his brothers. He doesn’t want to be. When his brother Lane plays, Cole is a fan first and a Capitals prospect second. He was even in Montreal during the 2025 playoffs wearing a Canadiens’ jersey while the Habs played his Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.
That’s how much family means to the Hutsons.
“That was solely for my brother,” he said about wearing a Habs sweater at a Montreal–Washington game. “I love seeing him play. Even though they were playing Washington, I’m cheering him on my hardest whenever I get the chance.”
That alone would’ve been enough to endear him to Canadiens fans. But there’s more. Through offseason skates and training, he’s built a small but genuine connection with Ivan Demidov, one of Montreal’s most intriguing young forwards.
“He’s one of the most down-to-earth humans off the ice,” Hutson said. “We built a little relationship there. He’s unbelievable.”
Then he added, almost as if he realized how it sounded for a Capitals prospect to be this enthusiastic about another team’s players:
“I’m probably two of their biggest fans; him and Demidov. I love watching them play, especially together.”
And it doesn’t stop with those two. Hutson has also had a front-row look at Jacob Fowler, now a Canadiens goaltending prospect, during heated BU vs. BC games. The respect there is pretty clear.
“Unbelievable goalie,” Hutson said. “He was a big reason BC was such an unbelievable team last year. He’s so calm in the net and can read plays really well.”
For a defenseman who thrives on breaking down goalies and creating offense, that kind of praise carries weight.
“I have no doubt he’s going to tear up the NHL and be good for the Montreal Canadiens for sure,” he added.
So you end up with this strange but very modern picture: a future Washington defenseman who might be one of the loudest public cheerleaders for Montreal’s young core—Lane, Demidov, Fowler. And somehow, it all makes sense.
He’s not thinking in terms of team logos when he talks about them. He’s talking about people he knows, people he’s skated with, people he wants to see succeed.
What Comes Next
When you zoom out, Hutson’s world is busy: BU chasing a national title, Team USA chasing another World Juniors gold, the Capitals quietly penciling him into their long-term plans, and Canadiens fans watching his social media like it’s a side quest to their own rebuild.
At BU, the expectation is simple and blunt.
“Our goal coming to BU is to win a national championship,” he said. “No one wants to be the team that misses the tournament or Frozen Four.”
On the pro side, the picture is fuzzier, but in a good way. There’s no date circled on a calendar yet, just a growing sense that the moment is coming—and that when it does, it’ll hit hard.
“If I’m lucky enough to get to that point, signing and joining Washington, I’ll be super excited but probably super nervous too,” he admitted. “That’s when I’m playing my best, when I’ve got the most nerves and swagger.”
Hutson’s game is still being built at BU and on the World Junior stage, but the direction is obvious: everything he’s doing now points toward being an NHL defenseman who doesn’t just survive, but drives play.
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