We taked about other Washington Capitals prospects that could make the jump up to the NHL the other day. We forgot to note Cole Hutson who also had a strong showing at the Wolrd Juniors and is nominated for the NCAA's Hobey Baker Award, along with top Capitals prospect Ryan Leonard.
Hutson is 18 and had five goals and 20 assists in his firs 20 games as a freshman at Boston University. The St. Louis, Missouri native leads the team in assists and ranks first among Terrier defensemen in goals, points, power play points with seven and shots with 53.
Hutson enters this weekend's home and home series against none other than Ryan Leonard and Boston College on a five game point streak. Along with Leonard, Hutson won gold at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships where he finished as the tournament's leader in points with 11 in seven games played with three goals and eight assists. He also had a plus/minus of +11 and was named to the Media All Star Team.
Hutson broke Team USA's single tournament scoring record for a defenseman and became the first defenseman in World Junior Championship history to lead the tournament in scoring outright.
Hutson was selected in the second round at 43rd overall by the Capitals in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft in Las Vegas. Elite Prospects said this about him in their 2024 NHL Draft Guide:
"Cole Hutson has the 1 on 1 game at the point down to a science. A lateral slide, a hesitation move, and he gets past the first layer of defense. He drives down the face off circle, fakes a shot, and send a perfect cross ice pass to the talented shooter sitting inside space on the other flank. "Elite Prospects
Hutson vs. Leonard this weekend sounds like must see TV besides the football. So we'll end this article with that schedule. Those games are Friday on home ice for BU against Boston College at 7 then over there at BC the next night at 7. You can catch both games on ESPN plus.