Daily Faceoff has the Winnipeg Jets selecting American defenceman Cole Hutson with their 37th overall pick.
The Winnipeg Jets don’t make their first selection of the 2024 NHL Draft until the 37th overall pick in the second round.
It is hard to judge who they may select, as most of the experts and insiders primarily focus on the first round, but in early mock drafts the Jets have been listed as possibly selecting 17-year-old defenceman Cole Hutson.
The younger brother of high-end prospect Lane Hutson isn’t as highly-touted as his brother, but has still shown a lot of promise during his time with the U.S. National Team Development Program.
He averaged a point-per-game with 15 goals and 36 assists in 51 games in 2023-24 and set the NTDP record for career points by a defenceman at 119 and beating out the second-best total by eight, and his brother by nearly 30 points.
Winnipeg is looking to add more depth to its backend that allowed 28 goals in the first round versus the Colorado Avalanche. Hutson could work as a great future addition to its top-four defenceman and eventually work his way up to a second-pairing role and learn from one of the league’s best left-handed shot defencemen in Josh Morrissey.
Some insiders have Hutson ranked in this draft class as high as 26th overall like TSN’s Craig Button or as low as 71st like The Hockey News’s Ryan Kennedy. When looking at EliteProspects’ consolidated rankings of more than 15 experts, Hutson is ranked 39th and one spot behind where the Jets are drafting.
He plans to follow in his brother’s footsteps and attend Boston University next season, which has developed some high-quality defenceman in the NHL, such as Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk and Kevin Shattenkirk.
Hutson was born in North Barrington, Illinois but played his youth hockey with the North Jersey Avalanche. He scored 32 goals and dished out 68 assists for 100 points in just 65 games and earned a spot in the National Development Program.
He can handle the pressure of the big stage, as shown during the 2023 U18 World Junior Championships, where he recorded a goal and 11 assists in seven games for the U.S. National Team. He followed it up with four goals and nine assists in seven games at the 2024 U18 World Junior Championships.