Washington Capitals Prospect Review And Forecast – Joe Snively

Photo: Tori Hartman

We continue our prospect review and forecast series with a review and forecast for winger Joe Snively. (You can access all of our Capitals Prospect Reports and player analysis on our “Prospects” page on the top menu or right here.)

VITALS
Snively is a 23-year-old left winger who played for the Yale hockey team until graduating in the spring of 2019. The Herndon, Virginia native was never drafted but signed with the Capitals as a free agent. He signed a two-year contract with the Caps for $925,000 per year on March 18, 2019 but the contract does not take effect until July 1, 2019. He signed a Player Tryout (PTO) Contract with the Hershey Bears after his college season was over. He is 5’9” and weighs 180 pounds.

CAREER
Snively played three seasons (2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15) for the Sioux City Muskateers in the United States Hockey League (USHL) and improved in goals and assists each season.

He played four seasons with Yale University. During the 2015-16 season, he scored 10 goals and had 18 assists and was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year. During the 2016-17 season, he scored 14 goals and had 25 assists. He received Honorable Mention in each of his first two seasons as Yale. During his junior year, 2017-18, he scored 19 goals, had 17 assists and was First Team All-Ivy Selection and a Second Team All-ECAC Selection. During the 2018-19 season, his senior year, he scored 15 goals and had 21 assists. He was a Hobey Baker Award nomination and was also a First Team All-ECAC, First Team All-Ivy, and First-Team All-New England selections.

He played 9 games for the Hershey Bears near the end of the 2018-19 season and, in his short time there, scored 2 goals and had 5 assists.

2018-2019 SEASON SUMMARY
Snively scored 15 goals and had 21 assists while playing for Yale during the 2018-19 season. He was Yale’s leading scorer. He ranked 15th in the nation with 1.15 points per game. He led ECAC in shorthanded points with 3. He was a candidate for the Hobey Baker Award and earned numerous honors for the season, including MVP for Yale, First Team All-ECAC Selection, First Team All-Ivy Selection, and First-Team All-New England Selection.

2018-2019 MONTH-BY-MONTH RECAP AND TREND ANALYSIS
The following month-by-month breakdown is an aggregation of our monthly prospect reports prepared during the 2018-2019 season. You can find all of our monthly prospect reports on our “Prospects” page in the top menu.

October
He played in one preseason game against Brown University where he scored 2 goals. While the Yale website does not indicate that the game was preseason, the fact that the statistics for the game did not get counted is an indication.

Trending: Same

November
During November, he played in 7 games, scoring 4 goals and recording 6 assists. He was -1 for the month. His best games for the month included getting a goal and assist in a 4-2 loss against Cornell on November 2, recording 3 assists in a 4-2 win against Colgate on November 3, and recording an assist and a goal against Harvard on November 9 which was the game tying goal in a game that ended as a 3-3 tie.

Trending: Up

December
For the month of December, he played in 6 games, scoring 3 goals and recording 3 assists. He was -1 for the time frame. His best game for the month when he scored 2 goals and recorded 1 assist in a 3-0 win over Union on December 8. He also earned an ECAC Player of the Week Award later that week

Trending: Same

January
For the month of January, Snively played in 7 games, scoring 3 goals and recording 4 assists. He was +6 for the month. His best game was a 5-5 tie against New Hampshire on January 5.

Trending: Same

February
During February, Snively played in 7 games, scoring 3 goals and recording 4 assists. He was -2 for the month. One of his best games for the month was on February 2 when the Bulldogs played Brown University and beat them 4-3. In this game, Snively had 2 goals and recorded 1 assist. He also earned 2 assists in the Bulldogs’ 5-2 win against Cornell University on February 16. Another highlight for the month was on February 4 when it was announced that he was a finalist for the Walter Brown award which recognizes the top college hockey player in New England

Trending: Up

March
During March, he finished his college career at Yale by playing in 6 games, scoring 2 goals and recording 4 assists. He was a strong contributor in the ECAC Hockey Playoff series against the Rensselaer Engineers when Yale swept the series, winning the first game on March 8 by a 4-1 score and the second game on March 9 by a 4-0 score. Snively earned 1 assist in the first of those games and scored 1 goal and recorded 2 assists in the second game. On March 18, Snively signed a two year contract with the Capitals for $925,000 per year. The contract will not take effect until July 1. Two days later, he signed an Amateur Tryout Agreement with the Caps’ AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears and was assigned there. He played two games for the Bears and scored a goal in his first game with them.

Trending: Up

April
Snively closed out the regular season by playing in 7 games, with 1 goal and 5 assists. He played in 2 post season games against Bridgeport and then returned to school to take his exams. He earned numerous awards for college. He was a Hobey Baker Award finalist and was also a First Team All-ECAC, First Team All-Ivy, and First-Team All-New England selections. He was named the Most Valuable Player for the Yale Bulldogs.

Trending: Same

HIGHLIGHTS

PLAYER FORECAST
Snively will likely spend next season with the Hershey Bears in the AHL. He has already proven he can score goals at that level. He will report to Caps training camp this fall and the final decision as to where he reports will be made them.

Where was lifelong Caps fan Joe Snively when the Caps won the #StanleyCup? Outside the arena celebrating with all of you

Get to know the recent college ufa 👇 pic.twitter.com/AzbgrVlYMm

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) July 18, 2019