As he attempted to process the first truly disappointing season of his four-year tenure following his team’s loss to UConn in the Hockey East quarterfinal, Jay Pandolfo briefly looked towards the future.
“We had a young team,” BU’s head coach told assembled media at Toscano Family Ice Forum. “Everyone that’s coming back will be a year older. That should make a huge difference for our team next year.”
It should.
…Except for one caveat:
“Obviously,” Pandolfo acknowledged, “some guys are going to be moving on.”
One of them already has. Just over 24 hours after the clock hit midnight on BU’s season, the Washington Capitals announced they were signing Cole Hutson to a three-year contract. The former sophomore defenseman is an enormous name off the board, but BU still awaits news on the fate of plenty more of its players. Will Hutson’s best mate, sophomore Cole Eiserman, follow him to the NHL and sign with the New York Islanders? What about junior captain Gavin McCarthy, a Sabres’ prospect? And they’re not the only remaining Terriers who could plausibly turn pro.
And with the transfer portal set to open on April 13 — the Monday following the national championship game — the Terriers stand to both potentially gain and lose players to other NCAA programs.
It’s a lot to follow. We’ll continue to update this story with information and analysis on the Terriers’ offseason moves, starting with Hutson:
Pro signings
Cole Hutson
What to know: Arguably BU’s most valuable player in 2025-26 — and 2024-25, for that matter — the 19-year-old signed with the Capitals on March 15, less than two years after Washington selected him with the 43rd pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The younger brother of former Terriers Lane and Quinn, Hutson was regarded as one of the best drafted defensemen yet to turn pro.
Washington announced Hutson’s three-year contract will carry an average annual value of $975,000.
Hutson finished his BU career as a 2025-26 Hobey Baker Award nominee and the 2024-25 National Rookie of the Year. He recorded 24 goals and 56 assists for 80 points in 74 NCAA games. According to College Hockey News, he played just over 25 minutes a game as a sophomore, a mark that ranked sixth in the nation as of March 15.
Read our features on Hutson by clicking the photos below.
Analysis: The Capitals are getting an elite offensive defenseman. Hutson is an elite skater — with great edges and deceptive ability with the puck on his stick — and his shot is good enough to beat NHL goaltenders.
Hutson will have to rein in his puck carrying, as he was prone to some ugly turnovers in his time at BU, but his offensive ceiling is worth the risk. There is a chance he struggles early in Washington as he learns what he can and can’t do at the NHL level, but overall, his offensive game is polished.
His defensive game is still a work in progress, but it took a step forward in his second season with the Terriers. He was more responsible in the defensive zone, his stick improved, and he was a regular penalty killer for BU, which shows just how much he was trusted.
Expect Hutson to get some good run with the Capitals down the stretch as they push for a playoff spot. He’ll likely play regular minutes on a pair and get time on the power play, where he can shine from the start. — Eli Cloutier
Sacha Boisvert
What to know: After two college seasons, one at North Dakota and the second as a Terrier, the 18th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft inked a three-year, entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Chicago announced that the 19-year-old Boisvert’s contract will have a salary cap hit of $974,167.
Boisvert tallied 17 points and three goals in 26 games for BU as a sophomore after recording 32 points in 34 games for the Fighting Hawks as a freshman. He dealt with a shoulder injury in the first half of his season as a Terrier.
Read our feature on Boisvert by clicking the photo below.
Analysis: You got a beer?
There’s a lot to unpack here. I’d love to tell you the kind of player the Blackhawks are getting, but Boisvert was so quiet during his lone season at BU that it’s hard to even know who he is at his best. The Terriers, inarguably, didn’t get the version of Boisvert that made him perhaps the most sought-after player in the transfer portal ahead of the 2025-26 season. Chicago is betting that it will.
To that end, the Hawks aren’t drawing dead. Boisvert — who scored 36 goals as an assistant captain at Muskegon in his final year in the USHL — was a first-round pick for a reason. He led North Dakota in goals and points in 2024-25, winning NCHC Rookie of the Year, and he didn’t do that by accident, either.
But, to be frank, few parts of Boisvert’s game stood out during his time on Comm Ave. He scored just three goals, and his shot constantly missed the net on medium- and high-danger looks. He didn’t transition through the neutral zone well, either with his puck-carrying or his playmaking, and he wasn’t notable in the defensive zone. He recorded a gorgeous assist in the season finale at UMass Lowell and nearly recorded another in the Hockey East Quarterfinal at UConn, and those were about the only memorable plays he made.
Of course, Boisvert went viral in January when he dropped the gloves with Lowell’s Connor Eddy during a game at Agganis Arena. He was promptly ejected and suspended for two games. It’s hard to know what to make of that. On one hand, Boisvert is known as a hyper-competitive player, which isn’t a bad thing; BU certainly needed more of those, and perhaps Boisvert was simply trying to spark his group. On the other hand, Boisvert developed a reputation as a loose cannon in 2025-26; Pandolfo scratched him for BU’s HE First Round against Vermont — an elimination game — because, Boisvert told The Athletic, he was late to a team workout.
The bottom line? There’s evidence of Boisvert as one of the most exciting prospects in the sport, and there’s evidence of Boisvert as an underperforming star who didn’t get to play in a playoff game. I’ve got no clue which side of Boisvert is real. But it’ll surely be entertaining to find out. — Sam Robb O’Hagan
Gavin McCarthy
What to know: Following three seasons at BU, the 86th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft has signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Buffalo Sabres.
The junior captain was recently named to the All-Hockey East third team after his 21-point campaign (4 goals, 17 assists) and a plus-12 rating through 36 games. He ranked second on the team in plus/minus, assists and blocked shots.
His production and impact increased each season at BU. He finished his Terrier career with 115 games played and 42 points. Prior to his collegiate career, McCarthy played three seasons with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres before advancing to the USHL.
Read our feature on McCarthy by clicking on the photo below.
Analysis: McCarthy’s signing never felt like a sure thing. There was at least a chance he would return for his senior season, but either way it wouldn’t have come as a total surprise.
McCarthy has steadily improved over his three seasons on Comm. Ave., with his role expanding each year. As captain, his junior season was easily his best.
Defensively, McCarthy is sound. He’s got good size at 6-foot-2 and plays a physical game, but maybe sometimes too much (he’s prone to taking a dumb penalty here and there). He’s a reliable penalty killer that makes smart decisions with and without the puck.
This season, McCarthy took a major step forward offensively. He matched his total from his first two seasons combined with 21 points. He was more comfortable bringing the puck up the ice and collapsing in the offensive zone and, as a result, finished second on BU in assists. He also saw time on the Terriers’ power play, something he hadn’t done as a freshman or sophomore.
As of the night of March 17, it’s unclear when McCarthy’s deal will begin. With Buffalo firmly in a playoff spot and boasting a strong core of blueliners, McCarthy may have a hard time cracking the lineup this season. If his deal starts now, it’s likely he’ll join the Rochester Americans, the Sabres’ AHL affiliate. — Cloutier
Cole Eiserman
What to know: The 20th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft is set to report to the New York Islanders affiliate in the AHL with the Bridgeport Islanders on an amateur tryout agreement. Eiserman’s entry-level contract does not kick in until the 2026-27 season.
An amateur tryout agreement is usually given to college players making the transition into professional hockey to evaluate them before the deal fully kicks into effect.
Eiserman spent two seasons at BU, scoring 38 goals and adding 19 assists for 57 points in 64 career games. The 19-year-old forward finished his sophomore season with 28 points, 18 of them being goals in 32 games, scoring five in his final five games as a Terrier.
Before the NCAA, Eiserman played for the U.S. National Team Development Program for two seasons. In that span, he scored 127 goals, 52 of them on the power play, which are both records there. In his 119 games with the NTDP, he added 66 assists for 193 points.
Read our features on Eiserman by clicking the photos below:
Analysis: Eiserman is such a unique and challenging prospect to evaluate. He is not a complete player and likely never will be. Anyone expecting Eiserman to dominate — regardless of the league he’s playing in, be it the NCAA, AHL or the NHL — is going to be disappointed. He just doesn’t do enough things at an elite level.
But man. The thing he does do at an elite level? It’s the most valuable skill a hockey player can have. Eiserman is about as pure a goal-scorer as you’ll find among drafted prospects. His one-timer is ridiculous, so good that BU was probably too reliant on it in 2025-26 (especially on the power play). But he can score with any kind of shot, from anywhere on the ice, to any part of the goal. He is just so, so reliable when he gets a chance, and that’ll be valuable to any team at any level. (Yes, Eiserman was snakebit to start the second semester. But it speaks volumes that, when he went six games without scoring, it became a story. That’s a normal drought for anyone else; it’s the end of the world for Eiserman.)
The eternal concern regarding Eiserman is everything else. I don’t think he’s the one-tool player he’s sometimes made out to be, but he struggles to have an impact worthy of a first-round pick when he isn’t scoring. He’s a competitive, passionate and high-effort player, but he’s not a good playmaker or puck carrier. Eiserman is the kind of player who’s at his best when his linemates are at their best, too.
Problem is — Eiserman will probably start in a bottom-six role whenever he reaches the NHL, and that role won’t offer as many goal-scoring opportunities as he grew used to at BU and the NTDP. For the first time in his career, he will need to have an impact without scoring. I think he’s capable, but it’s inevitably going to be a wake-up call, whenever it comes. Perhaps the AHL can prepare him for that better than another year in the NCAA could, but I doubt Eiserman will develop much more in Bridgeport than he would’ve at Agganis Arena.
Here’s the deal. That wake-up call in the NHL is coming no matter what. Could Eiserman have used another year at BU? Probably. But if Eiserman stayed at BU and signed after the 2026-27 season, I’d be writing the same exact analysis I’m writing now. Eiserman needs to expand his game, and I think the NHL is the only level that can truly force him to. — Robb O’Hagan
Owen McLaughlin
What to know: The 206th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft signed an AHL contract for the remainder of the 2025-26 season and the 2026-27 season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Philadelphia Flyers’ AHL affiliate.
McLaughlin has been temporarily assigned to the Reading Royals of the ECHL.
The forward spent three seasons at North Dakota, where he recorded 101 points (25 goals, 76 assists) through 148 games. During his single season at BU, he was the only senior on the team. Over 34 games played, he tallied five goals and 12 assists.
Analysis: McLaughlin never really saw consistency in his lone season as a Terrier. Aside from Boisvert, he was one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal ahead of the 2025–26 season, and for good reason. In his junior campaign, he led the Fighting Hawks with 25 assists and ranked second on the team in points with 30, behind Boisvert.
Ahead of the season, BU looked primed to be receiving a top-tier playmaker, and at times it did get that from McLaughlin. On numerous occasions he was able to set up beautiful assists for grade-A chances — including a three-point effort (one goal, two assists) in a 5–4 win over Merrimack in November. But at other times, he was largely invisible.
McLaughlin was shaken all around the lineup at BU. At the turn of the year, he was used as the extra forward, but by the end of the season, he had worked his way into a top-six role. He was a steady presence on a power play that never clicked for BU.
He’ll need to improve on speed and round himself out as a more reliable two-way player. The play-driving abilities were there in flashes — he pushed the puck better than most of BU’s roster — but his impact was undercut by costly turnovers and inconsistent decision-making.
The Terriers didn’t get the same high-end version of McLaughlin that North Dakota saw. That being said, I don’t see McLaughlin’s ceiling being higher than the AHL. — Hannah Connors
Portal departures
Sascha Boumedienne
What to know: The sophomore defenseman is expected to enter the transfer portal, per Mike McMahon. In 35 games this season for the Terriers, he scored two goals and recorded 10 points at a minus-8 rating, tied for second-worst on the team.
Boumedienne entered the fall as a first-round selection of the Winnipeg Jets in the 2025 NHL Draft, coming off a stellar U18 World Juniors performance with his native Sweden and a 13-point freshman season at BU in 2024-25. For the majority of 2025-26, he was paired with freshman Charlie Tretheway, logging an average of 21:57 time on ice, which was third on BU.
Before his two years at BU, the 19-year-old was a member of the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL, where he ended his 2023-24 season on the USHL All-Rookie Team, with three goals and 27 points in 43 games. — Antonelli
Read our feature on Boumedienne by clicking on the photo below.
Analysis: Woah.
Assuming Boumedienne indeed enters the portal, This is probably the biggest surprise of BU’s offseason thus far. Because it was Boumedienne who accelerated to Comm. Ave a year early in 2024-25. It was Boumedienne who made headlines when he implied on the Game Notes podcast that he chose BU because the program told him it would get him to the NHL as fast as possible. And it was Boumedienne who became a first-round pick in 2025 after a strong back half of his freshman season.
And now, heading into his junior season, he’s gone.
It is jarring mostly because Boumedienne was so public in his belief in BU’s development plan for him; a few months later, it appears, the Swede and his camp have lost that belief. It should be acknowledged: there very well might be other factors contributing to Boumedienne’s decision that the public isn’t yet privy to. But if this is what it looks like, the optics certainly aren’t great for Pandolfo and his assistants, who are losing one of their highest-pedigree players following easily their worst season in four years at Agganis Arena.
Let’s be clear: Boumedienne hardly covered himself in glory in his two seasons as a Terrier. He looked overwhelmed as a first-semester freshman, surged in the second half of 2024-25, then inexplicably regressed throughout 2025-26. Boumedienne never provided the kind of offensive production at BU that he provided to Sweden, which at some points was record-breaking. He committed ghastly turnovers and made brutal defensive-zone decisions often, some of which cost his team dearly. And after two seasons in the NCAA — when many of his fellow first-round picks, both at BU and other programs, signed their pro deals — Boumedienne didn’t look ready for the NHL.
It’s impossible to know whether that’s Boumedienne’s fault, BU’s fault or both.
But the reality? BU told Boumedienne he’d develop at Agganis Arena. He didn’t. — Robb O’Hagan
Malte Vass transfers to UNH
What to know: The 6-foot-3 defenseman appeared in 22 games as a Terrier. In the first half of the season, he slotted in as a consistent bottom-pair defenseman. Down the stretch of the year — when BU’s defense began to find its groundings — Vass typically fit in as the extra skater, seeing little ice time.
The Columbus Blue Jackets selected Vass 76th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft. He tallied three assists at BU, all recorded in the first semester.
When Vass was on the ice, he exhibited an aggressive defensive style, using his size to his advantage, especially in puck battles along the boards.
Analysis: For Vass, the decision makes sense. When BU got healthy at the turn of the year and Carter Amico returned to the USHL, the Terriers had room for only one freshman defenseman — a role Vass wasn’t quite ready to claim.
Freshman Charlie Trethewey emerged as the more reliable option, adjusting to the college game quicker than Vass. That’s not to say Vass didn’t show flashes — including a two-point performance against Northeastern in late December — but early in the season he lacked the consistency needed to secure a regular spot on a defensive pair.
As for BU, this loss has bigger implications. With Cole Hutson and Gavin McCarthy signing pro, the Terrier’s top D-pair is gone.
At the start of the season, BU’s defense struggled because it lacked veteran presence, relying heavily on underclassmen in key roles. The group eventually settled in, but not without growing pains. Vass could have provided some continuity on the blue line — not to replace Hutson or McCarthy, but to bridge the sizable defensive learning curve for most players coming into the college game. Instead, BU will likely have to fill those spots with two freshmen, a scenario that risks putting the Terriers back in the same precarious defensive position they faced this year. — Connors
John McNelis
What to know: The freshman forward has entered the transfer portal after appearing in 19 games as a Terrier. McNelis capped off his season with one goal and four assists, all tallied in the first half of the season.
McNelis was in and out of the lineup throughout the year, often slotting in as an extra skater or skating on the fourth line alongside Jonathan Morello and Ben Merrill — two of BU’s most consistent players.
Before BU, the Potomac, Md. native played three seasons in the USHL, finishing the 2024-25 season with Cedar Rapids.
Analysis: McNelis saw most of his opportunities before the new year. Though he was in and out of the lineup, he still made a small impact — most notably in BU’s first game against Northeastern, where he registered four shots on goal after sitting out against Quinnipiac, BU’s worst performance of the season. After the Northeastern game Pandolfo said that it was a “big mistake” to not dress McNelis against Quinnipiac.
With the addition of freshman Tynan Lawrence, McNelis only saw the lineup three times after the new year.
The Terriers had more ‘high-end’ forwards than lineup spots, and McNelis ultimately became the odd man out. When he skated alongside Morello and Merrill, he played well but never could secure a consistent role.
As of April 13th, only Eiserman, McLaughlin and Boisvert have left the forward lineup to sign pro deals. If BU continues prioritizing high-end recruits, McNelis would likely face the same uphill battle for ice time next season.
On the flip side, the underclassmen-heavy roster for the Terriers didn’t pan out this year. When McNelis did play, he didn’t burden this ice with costly mistakes, and the Terriers’ bottom six forwards were often their most reliable group. If that trend continues, having a player like McNelis — someone willing to embrace a bottom six role and play it cleanly — could have been more valuable than his usage suggested. — Connors
Kyle Kim
What to know: The 6-foot-2 freshman defenseman has transferred to Colgate. Kim was in the lineup for three games in 2025-26 and only saw the ice in one, skating for 68 seconds in a 3-2 home loss to Vermont on Dec. 6. He did not record a point.
The 21-year-old from Seoul, South Korea, arrived on Comm. Ave after playing two seasons with the New Jersey Titans of the NAHL, where he totaled three goals and 30 assists in 50 games in 2024-25. He was the first Korean to suit up for BU.
Analysis: There wasn’t room for Kim at BU. His only appearances in the lineup, which included an inclusion on the fourth forward line, came when the Terriers were severely shorthanded.
Even with the losses of Hutson, McCarthy, Boumedienne, and Vass, Kim was not expected to see an increase in his role heading into next season.
Kim was initially committed to Army before flipping his commitment to BU over a year later. Now, he’ll head to Colgate, where he should see much more ice time.
The Raiders finished 13-20-4 last season, ranked 49th in NPI. — Henry Dinh-Price
Returning upperclassmen
Nothing to see here. Yet.
Portal additions
Nothing to see here. Yet.