We continue our Capitals prospects series of reports with a review and forecast for Tobias Geisser. (You can access all of our Capitals Prospect Reports and player analysis on our “Prospects” page right here.) 

CONTRACT
Geisser (19) signed his entry-level contract on March 22nd, 2018. His contract is for three years at $803,333 AAV and will end once the 2020-2021 season finishes. Geisser is waivers-exempt.

CAREER
Geisser was a forward most of his hockey life until a couple of years before he was drafted when he switched positions to defense. He’s big at 6′-4″ and a bit over 200lbs, though he still doesn’t use his body enough. He moves well for a large player and has high hockey IQ, so he knows where and when to be. His offensive numbers haven’t really shown-up, as he only has two goals and five assists in 52 National League (NLA) in Switzerland over the last 2 seasons.

But the NLA is a league of men and Geisser was THE youngest defensemen in the 2016-2017 season, and the 8th youngest defensemen in the 2017-2018 season, but of those under 19-year-olds, none were close to him in games played; he played 38 games, the second closest was 16 (only one other player had double digits, the rest were less than 10). That tells us he’s very mature in his mentality and play style for his coaches to trust a youngster like him.

2017-2018 SEASON SUMMARY
As stated above, Geisser isn’t a huge point producer, but did put up 2 goals and 4 assists in 38 games this past season, good for 5th on his team in defensive points. But for him, it’s not about points at this part of his career. He was the youngest player on his team playing against men. He needs to keep developing those defensive skills, which he’s already great at, before showing off his offensive tool kit. And he does have the potential. When he was 16 he was 2nd in defensive scoring in Elite Novizen with 20 goals and 15 assists. Those 20 goals led the league in defensive goals, the closest was 15.

2017-2018 MONTH-BY-MONTH RECAP AND TREND ANALYSIS
The following is a compilation of our month-by-month prospect reports for Tobias Geisser during the 2017-2018 season.

October
Geisser shares a lot with fellow Capitals defensive prospect Jonas Siegenthaler. Both are  from Switzerland with similar qualities: big players with great mobility. Neither are exactly offensive dynamos, but can be relied on for their defense that can get the puck up ice. Through 17 games in the NLA, Greisser has three points (third on the team in defensive points). Again not mind-blowing, but he is the youngest player on the team by nearly two years! He’s 18-years old playing against men, and in less than one week, he’ll be the only player under 20-years old. He’ll more than likely make the World Junior U20 tournament this year, where we’ll get a better look at him.

Trending: Same

November
Tobias Geisser  has one goal and three assists in 24 games played for EV Zug in the NLA, which is a relatively low season total for the two-way defender. However, we should restate that at 18, Geisser is the youngest player on his team. Geisser wrapped-up the month of December playing for Team Switzerland in the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships. Geisser and Team Switzerland beat Team Belarus 3-2 in Switzerland’s opening matchup where Geisser recorded three shots on goal and finished second on the team with 22:07 of ice time.

Trending: Same

December
Tobias Geisser  has one goal and three assists in 24 games played for EV Zug in the NLA, which is a relatively low season total for the two-way defender. However, we should restate that at 18, Geisser is the youngest player on his team. Geisser wrapped-up the month of December playing for Team Switzerland in the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships. Geisser and Team Switzerland beat Team Belarus 3-2 in Switzerland’s opening matchup where Geisser recorded three shots on goal and finished second on the team with 22:07 of ice time.

Trending: Same

January
In nine January games, Geisser picked up zero points, bringing his total to one goal and three assists in 33 games. Again, no need to be worried. He’s an 18-year-old playing against men in the NLA. The next player on his team is nearly two years older. He needs to take the same road as Jonas Siegenthaler: get over to North America as soon as possible and help find his offensive game.

Trending: Same

February
Geisser had quite an offensive outburst in February, or at least for him. He played only three games, but notched a goal and an assist. That’s just 2 points in 3 games, but to put that into perspective, he had all of four points in the previous 33 games. So 33% of this season’s point total came in 3 games. He’s definitely a defensive defenseman but if he can find more of an offensive touch that would be huge.

Trending: Up

March
On March 22, the Capitals signed defenseman Tobias Geisser to a three-year entry-level contract beginning in the 2018-19 season. Geisser’s contract will carry an average annual value (AAV) of $867,000. Geisser ended his season with just two goals and four assists in 38 NLA games, but he was the youngest player on his team by almost two years, and was consistently going up against men as an 18-year old. He turned 19 in February. He was just signed to an entry-level deal by the Capitals so they must have really liked what Geisser was showing against tough opponents. He’s a big guy that can skate very well. That’s a great combo to have in the modern NHL. He’ll most likely stay in Switzerland for another season before coming over. Both Geisser and Riat were invited to the Switzerland pre-camp for the International Ice Hockey Federation World tournament. So we might see them on a bigger stage at the beginning of May.

Trending: Up

HIGHLIGHTS

PLAYER FORECAST
Geisser has 1 more year on his deal with his team, EV Zug, but it is expected that once he finishes his season there he’ll make the jump over to North America. He’ll then join the Hershey Bears to join fellow Swiss Jonas Siegenthaler.

He will probably take all the same steps as Jonas in terms of development, though hopefully he comes over in a bit better shape. If everything works out and Tobias develops properly over the next 3-4 years then he could reach his potential as a 2nd pair defensemen. But for now it’s too early to tell and we’ll monitor his progress for his last season in Europe.

PREVIOUS PROSPECT REVIEWS
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By Luke Adomanis

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