Having closed out his college run with Boston University, Cole Hutson is poised to make his much-anticipated NHL bow Wednesday night when Washington faces Ottawa.
The 19-year-old defender enters the league carrying heavy hype and tall expectations, having shone on the world-junior stage and across NCAA competition, with plenty of voices calling him the finest college rearguard of the previous two campaigns. He steps onto the same path forged by an older sibling: Lane Hutson, 22, a premier top-pairing defenseman skating for Montreal. Lane broke in near the tail end of 2023-24 and then, in his first complete campaign, captured the Calder as the league's best newcomer, piling up a 66-point haul (6g, 60a) over 82 games.
Comparisons between the two siblings are inevitable for fans. So once the team finished its skate that Wednesday morning, Cole fielded a query from Joe Beninati, who covers the team for Monumental Sports Network, about whether their styles resemble one another.
Cole responded that the brothers are quite alike, noting that on the offensive side they read the same opportunities yet execute them in distinct ways. By Cole's telling, Lane skates himself into plays, sensing what comes next the moment he gains possession and using his feet to carry himself into the chance and finish it, while Cole would rather wait for the action to arrive at him before completing it. He acknowledged that Lane is far more elusive while describing his own game as smoother, adding that he'd give anything to glide around the ice the way his brother does.
View this post on Instagram
The two Hutsons reached the NHL by comparable routes. Both put in two college years with BU, scoring at roughly a point a game and outpacing a handful of the league's elite American-born defenders. Lane wound up with more points in total, yet each brother topped the Terriers' scoring in a separate year: Lane reached 48 during his 2022-23 rookie college year, while Cole posted 32 in his 2025-26 sophomore season.
How current NHL blueliners scored during their NCAA days
| Player | PPG | Pts | GP | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Lane Hutson | 1.26 | 97 | 77 | | Zeev Buium | 1.18 | 98 | 83 | | Luke Hughes | 1.09 | 87 | 80 | | Cole Hutson | 1.08 | 80 | 74 | | Adam Fox | 1.06 | 68 | 64 | | Jake Sanderson | 0.91 | 41 | 45 | | Quinn Hughes | 0.90 | 62 | 69 | | Zach Werenski | 0.86 | 61 | 71 | | Charlie McAvoy | 0.68 | 51 | 75 | | Shayne Gostisbehere | 0.62 | 48 | 77 |
In the run-up to inking his deal in Washington, Cole turned to his brother for advice across one extended chat between them.
By his own account, Cole logged close to three hours that Monday talking with his brother by phone, covering how he ought to approach his game along with the dos and don'ts involved. He passed along that Lane urged him to stay alert at every moment, given that opponents constantly target his brother on the ice and would probably do the same to him.
Ideally, just as Lane does, Cole turns into the player doing the damage, slicing through opposing blue lines via his wheels and his knack for setting up teammates.