Unless you’re Rob Hutson.
He took a different approach when it came time for his four boys, Quinn, Lane, Cole and Lars, to lace up their skates. He wanted them to understand the physics of skating, so instead of strapping skates on like a boot, the Hutsons’ skates fit more like slippers.
“From an early age I wanted to make sure they developed ankle strength,” Rob said.
Most parents tie their children’s skates so tightly that ankle strength never fully develops, limiting their ability to get out of their comfort zone. Strong ankles allow players to transfer their power efficiently and improve their edgework, allowing them to stop and start in an instant.
For the first 30 minutes of a practice session, the Hutson boys trotted onto the ice to practice with their laces completely undone. This wasn’t a one-time ordeal either. Thus began their sessions, and it was not unusual for the entire exercise to be conducted in this manner.
The boys never questioned their father. Rob’s methodology was simple: the more difficult the situation is with loose skates, the easier the game feels when their skates are tied.
Cole Hutson enters. The Boston University defenseman, now a sophomore, is the best blueliner in the NCAA and arguably the best player in college hockey.
When you watch Hutson play, the game certainly looks easy. He won National Rookie of the Year as a freshman after scoring 48 points in 39 games. Through 24 games as a sophomore, Hutson does it all while averaging 25:45 of ice time per game, which ranks fifth in the nation. He was selected as a nominee for BU’s Hobey Baker Award.
“He’s been really good for us in all situations this year. He’s first over the boards on penalty kills, obviously first over the boards on the power play. Plays big minutes. He deserves to be in that conversation all day,” said BU head coach Jay Pandolfo.
During his time in the U.S. National Team Development Program, Hutson’s skates were so loose that, according to his father, he could reach down and pull one off while playing. Now he ties his skates tighter as he has developed his ankle strength.
The foundation of Hutson’s genius is his skating. Jimmy Mullin, who coached both Hutson and Lane in the NTDP and later faced Hutson as an assistant at Merrimack, describes Hutson’s skating as effortless. It is his ability to use his sharpness and flexibility to his advantage that allows Hutson to be a step ahead. His ability to question defenders is among the best Mullin has ever coached.
“Cole has the ability to bring people as close as they can feel, and feel like they’ve got him, and he has a way of getting out,” said Mullin, who is currently the head coach of the Fargo Force in the USHL. “Cole’s skills are so smooth and calculated.”
He compared Hutson’s ability to maneuver on the ice to that of James Harden and Russell Westbrook, two of the NBA’s best guards of the 21st century. Harden uses his footwork and leverages his power to create space. Westbrook is one of the most explosive athletes basketball has ever seen. With or without the puck, Hutson’s speed and explosiveness mean he can blow away defenders in a hurry or get back from a long shift in the offensive zone.
“He comes at you with a lot of speed, and then he can have you leaning or stepping one way, and then he’s already about to go the other way,” said BU assistant coach Kim Brandvold, who played seven seasons with the Boston Bruins prior to BU. He said he hasn’t seen many players with the skating ability that Hutson has.
And that doesn’t diminish Hutson’s ability to deceive opponents. He is adept at faking intentions and misleading opponents, using moves such as head-fake or stick-fake.
As Mullin puts it? “Deception creates insult.” And Hutson is an elite offensive generator from the blue line. In addition to his collegiate success, he is the NTDP’s all-time points leader among defensemen with 119. In 2025, he became the first blueliner to lead the World Junior Championships in scoring, en route to winning gold as an 18-year-old.
According to Nick Fohr, head coach at the NTDP, most hockey players look the same to defensemen in that regard.
“Players look the same as your eyes and how they move. They start turning to the left, you see their shoulders drop, their body starts turning – you can read all those things. And they become instinctive,” Fohr explained.
But Hutson isn’t moving in that direction. The way Hutson uses weight shifts and fakes makes opponents think he’s moving one way, but he’s actually moving the other way. Defenders are naturally on their heels when he has the puck on his stick, which he owns more than anyone in the NCAA at 54 seconds per game, according to InStat courtesy of BU Hockey Stats on X. Hockey offers little time to make decisions. Every advantage you can have over an opponent is crucial. It’s hard to stay disciplined when defending Hutson.
“If he turns his back on you, you don’t know which way he’s going to go, and he’ll find a way to make you make the wrong choice,” says Chris Peters of FloHockey, who has been analyzing prospects since 2011.
Hutson also deceives with his eyes. Peters added that Hutson doesn’t need time and space to make the right play. He can bring in a pass or a shot into areas or situations that are not possible for most people, which Peters described as a special skill.
Lane, who is a deceptive player in his own right, said creating space for teammates is also a benefit of deception — that’s the other way Hutson uses his eyes. He can lure extra defenders to his side, creating risky opportunities for others. At BU it’s Cole Eiserman.
“He’s the no-look pass king,” Mullin said. “If you look at the moment when Cole Eiserman transferred from Minnesota to BU, I think I would have done the same thing if I knew Cole Hutson passed me the puck.”
It’s almost impossible to know what Hutson will do next, he adds, and you never know when he’ll make a move you’ve never seen before. Despite no longer coaching in the conference, Mullin still gets calls from other coaches asking how he can stop Hutson.
“Good luck, let me know if you find out,” Mullin tells those who ask.
Besides Lane, Hutson draws comparisons to the two best blueliners in the world: Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes. Like Hutson, who is listed at 6-foot-1, 171 pounds, both Makar (6-foot-1, 187 pounds) and Hughes (6-foot-1, 180 pounds) are not typical defenders; they are modern puck-moving defensemen who took the NCAA route, Makar at UMass and Hughes at Michigan.
According to Mullin, Hutson is most comparable to Hughes because of his fluidity and his skating. His elite ability to skate and deceive allows him to break down any defender one-on-one, much like Makar, albeit in a smaller size and as a left shot. Peters labeled Hutson “BU’s Cale Makar” because the Terriers can’t survive without him on the ice.
“Hutson has always had that ability, and you realize how special that is,” Mullin added. “The reality of the situation is, how do you defend it? I’m not kidding… you’re not really defending it.”
While it remains to be seen what Hutson will become at the highest level, his production in the NTDP and NCAA is as good as – if not better than – that of Lane, who at 21 is already an NHL star.
Hutson is anything but a lock to keep in the NHL. However, how good he becomes depends on him. Ross Mahoney, an assistant general manager with the Washington Capitals who drafted Hutson 43rd overall in 2024, said the path he is now on gives him a great chance to become a top-level offensive player.
More than anything, it’s Hutson’s built-in chip on his shoulder – shaped in part by Lane – that separates him. When the Capitals interviewed him at the company, one thing stood out to Mahoney from the moment Hutson walked in the door.
‘He had That Look into his eyes,” he said. “You can see that on the ice when you watch him play.”
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