Cole Hutson shines in NHL debut for Capitals

The Washington Capitals‘ dreams of the Stanley Cup Playoffs may be fading, but there remains a glimmer of hope after a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night.

The win marked the first time that Alexander Ovechkin played with a teammate who was born after he made his NHL debut, as Cole Hutson stepped onto NHL ice for the first time after a standout two seasons with Boston University. 

At 19 years old, Hutson had the dream debut, finding the back of the net through 21 shifts and 16:24 of ice time.  On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, co-hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton broke down his debut and where things stand with the Capitals. 

Tyler Yaremchuk: How about the Washington Capitals and the debut of one Cole Hutson, who finds the back of the net with an empty-netter late in the game? I thought he was really impressive in his NHL debut.

I also love whoever that is on the far side, pointing towards the empty net and yelling at him, like, ‘Do not be selfless, you get your first goal in your first game.’ He was buzzing and made a couple of really nice plays in the offensive zone. I think that’s kind of what you wanted to see if you were a Capitals fan. But again, you’re looking for silver linings at this point. I also love the reaction from his parents. 

Carter Hutton: I think it’s unreal. That was Connor McMichael doing the point 24 and I think for him, just like being able to be involved in someone’s first goal, whether it’s an empty net or no matter what happens, I think that’s an awesome feat, and I think there’s a lot of pride in this room too, and I don’t think the Washington Capitals are going to let off the gas. 

For Logan Thompson and their depth core group, it’s been a lot of fun to watch. And another fun stat that I grabbed last night was 999 career goals for Alexander Ovechkin, so that’s 922 in the regular season and 77 in the playoffs. So he’s knocking on 1000 complete goals, and nine of those were on me. So I don’t know what percentage is, but I’m glad that I could contribute.

You can catch the full Cole Hutson and Washington Capitals conversation, as well as the rest of Thursday’s show here…