- Cole Hutson says he was “shaking in the pregame meeting seat” before his NHL debut
- Ryan Leonard promised him the nerves would vanish after warmups, and they did not
- Read below for Hutson’s full story from his Empty Netters podcast appearance
Cole Hutson looked calm in his NHL debut. Hours earlier he was shaking in a chair.
The Capitals defenseman went on the Empty Netters podcast and walked through a morning he spent quietly coming apart before Washington hosted Ottawa on March 18.
“I mean, just leading up to the game was just like, I can’t believe I’m about to go play out there. Do I belong out there? I don’t know. Thoughts run through your head all morning. I go to pregame meetings, shaking in the pregame meeting seat.”
Here’s the full episode, with the Hutson interview picking up around the seven-minute mark:
Hutson leaned on Ryan Leonard for help. Leonard had gone through the same thing a year earlier, debuting for Washington in Boston against the Bruins on April 1, 2025, with a section of his Boston College teammates screaming at the glass.
His advice did not hold up. Hutson explained what happened once warmups ended:
“Finally get up to the game, and Leno’s like, ‘Oh, [the nerves] will go away after warmups.’ (After warmups), I’m like, ‘They’re not gone. What do I do?’ They say, ‘Who’s starting lineup?’ And they’re like, ‘Cole, you’re going.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, oh, s***. They’re still there. They’re even more there now.’”
Take a look at the debut night in Boston that Leonard was drawing from:
The opening shift did not fix anything either. Hutson had to retrieve a puck and figured he was about to get flattened, then caught a long stretch in the offensive zone and finally started breathing.
He skated 16:24 that night and buried an empty-netter with 26 seconds left in a 4-1 win. Alex Ovechkin reached him first along the boards, and Hutson has said the captain looked happier about the goal than he did.
Watch the goal that closed out his first game:
Hutson piled up 10 points in 14 games after that, and Washington is handing him real power-play minutes this season under new assistant coach Ray Bennett. The 2024 second-rounder lands in the Calder conversation right next to teammate Ilya Protas.
Ten points in 14 games says the nerves wore off.
