Photo: London Knights

Welcome to the week 25 Washington Capitals Prospect Report. The following includes a summary of game action and news for Capitals prospects that occurred between March 2nd and March 8th, 2020. (Reminder: you can always access all of our prospect news and analysis in the top menu under the “Prospects” tab. You can also follow the latest Capitals prospect news on Twitter under the #CapsProspect hashtag.

2019-2020 Top-20 Prospects Mid-Year Rankings

PREVIOUS WEEKLY REPORTS

• • Week 24 Report (02/24 – 03/01)
  • Week 23 Report (02/17 – 02/23)
  • Week 22 Report (02/10 – 02/16)
  • Week 21 Report (02/03 – 02/09)
  • Week 20 Report (01/27 – 02/02)
  • Week 19 Report (01/20 – 01/26)
  • Week 18 Report (01/13 – 01/19)
  • Week 17 Report (01/6 – 01/12)
  • Week 16 Report (12/30 – 01/5)
  • Week 15 Report (12/23 – 12/29)
  • Week 14 Report (12/6 – 12/22)
  • Week 13 Report (12/9 – 12/15)
  • Week 12 Report (12/2 – 12/8)
  • Week 11 Report (11/25 – 12/1)
  • Week 10 Report (11/18 – 11/24)
  • Week 9 Report (11/11 – 11/17)
  • Week 8 Report (11/4 – 11/10)
  • Week 7 Report (10/28 – 11/3)
  • Week 6 Report (10/21 – 10/27)
  • Week 5 Report (10/14 – 10/20)
  • Week 4 Report (10/7 – 10/13)
  • Week 3 Report (9/30 – 10/6)
  • Week 2 Report (9/23 – 9/29)
  • Week 1 Report (9/16 – 9/22)

MONTHLY PROSPECT REPORTS

• • February
  • January
  • December
  • November
  • October

PROSPECT INTERVIEWS

• • Martin Fehervary
  • Alexander Alexeyev
  • Beck Malenstyn
  • Riley Sutter
  • Joe Snively
  • Connor McMichael

AHL/HERSHEY BEARS

The Bears opened the week with a 1-0 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday night. The Bears would complete the two-game sweep Saturday night with a 4-1 win over the Wolf Pack. The Bears wrapped the week with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Providence Bruins. The loss drops the Bears record to 37-18-3-4 (81 points) on the season. With the shootout loss, the Bears maintain a one point lead over the Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Vitek Vanecek – stopped 30 of 30 shots in the Bears 1-0 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday night. It was Vanecek’s 11th career shutout with the Bears. Vanecek would stop 26 of 27 shots faced in the Bears 4-1 win on Saturday night. He stopped 56 of 57 shots faced this weekend against a Hartford.

Pheonix Copley – stopped 23 of 25 shots faced for a game save percentage of .920%. For the season, Copley is 17-8-6-2 with a 2.47 GAA and a .905% save percentage.

Brian Pinho – scored his 20th goal of the season Saturday night against the Wolf Pack.

Brian Pinho with his 20th goal of the season. Assists from Bobby Nardella (27) and Erik Burgdoerfer (7). Nardella has 3a in less than 2 periods. #CapsProspect pic.twitter.com/9yBgyF8eJK

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) March 8, 2020

OHL

Connor McMichael – scored his 43rd goal of the season Tuesday night against the Rangers in Kitchener.

Big Mac with his 43rd goal of the season. #CapsProspect pic.twitter.com/GKbDpJn9yc

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) March 4, 2020

He also had two primary assists in the game.

On Friday night against the Sarnia Sting, McMichael had two goals and an assist to reach the 100-point plateau in just 50 games. His first goal was a beauty.

This one counts, and it’s a beauty. @con91mcmichael ‘s 44th goal of the season, his 98th point. #CapsProspect pic.twitter.com/isICVMkP54

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) March 7, 2020

After recording an assist in the second period, McMichael would notch his 45th goal of the season, for his 100th point in just 50 games.

Connor McMichael with his second goal of the game, 45th goal of the season. It’s also his 100th point of the season (50 games). #CapsProspect pic.twitter.com/mZy9VDq6Nl

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) March 7, 2020

McMichael scored his 46th goal of the season Saturday night versus the Owen Sound.

Connor McMichael with his 46th goal of the season, comes 4-on-4. #CapsProspect pic.twitter.com/ioPowGrDsS

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) March 8, 2020

On Sunday McMichael scored his 47th game of the season late in the game against the Oshawa Generals. It was the eventual game winner.

Connor McMichael with his 47th goal of the season. Gives Knights a lead late in regulation. #CapsProspect pic.twitter.com/JfyAILUJ5o

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) March 9, 2020

For the season, McMichael has 47 goals and 55 assists in 52 games. He’s recorded 283 shots for a season shooting percentage of 16.6%. He is third in the OHL in goals and points, even though he missed a month for the World Juniors.

WHL

Aliaksei Protas – had a goal and two assists Tuesday night against the Calgary Hitmen.

The Viper strikes for the second straight time, as Aliaksei Protas shovels in the Raiders’ 5th goal of the game, nice power play goal and feed from Ilya Usau. 5-2 Raiders lead with 7:50 left in 2nd period. https://t.co/0VYIVbBsLc pic.twitter.com/AWFMV81V7x

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) March 4, 2020

On Friday night Protas had two assists in the Raiders 3-2 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

On Saturday night Protas had a goal and an assist against the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The Viper strikes once again, as Aliaksei Protas ties this one up with a tip in front. Protas assisted on both of Watts’ goals last night, tonight it’s the opposite. https://t.co/gZXbyIqPO3 pic.twitter.com/Kpc1x6NpgI

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) March 8, 2020

On Sunday night Protas was held off of the scoresheet. He recorded seven shots.

For the season, Protas 31 goals and 49 assists in 58 games played. He’s recorded 206 shots for a season shooting percentage of 15.0%.

Eric Florchuk – had an assist Friday night and an assist Saturday night against Prince George. For the season, Florchuk has 21 goals and 36 assists in 58 games played. He’s shot 119 times for a shooting percentage of 17.6%

From The Province: The book on Florchuk when he came over from the Saskatoon Blades in a deal the day before the trade deadline was that he was a dependable, two-way player who would fit somewhere in your top-six forward grouping. 

So far with Vancouver, he’s been much more. He’s been a play driver. He’s been a surefire No. 1 centre. Through 22 games with the Giants, Florchuk has 10 goals and 31 points. That’s 1.41 points per game, and that upped Florchuk’s career total through 245 career regular season match-ups to 0.67 points per game.

Florchuk has yet to sign with the Capitals. Seventh-round picks are far from automatics to get deals. If Florchuk can keep this up and help Vancouver go on a playoff run, it will be easier and easier to wonder if the Capitals will give him a contract and have him play somewhere in their system next season, rather than Florchuk coming back to the Giants as one of their three overages (20-year-olds).

EUROPE

Damien Riat – The Capitals announced on Thursday that they had signed forward Damien Riat to a two-year entry level contract for an average annual value of $817,500.

NCAA

Mitchell Gibson – stopped 15 of 18 shots faced for a game save percentage of .833% Friday night in Harvard’s 5-3 win over St. Lawrence. Gibson returned on Saturday and stopped 22 of 23 shots faced in Harvard’s 7-1 win over St. Lawrence. The Crimson take the series and will play RPI in the next round of the ECAC tournament. For the season, Gibson is 11-8-3 with a 2.61 GAA and a .916 save percentage.

By Jon Sorensen

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💯 points on the year for Connor McMichael!

A post shared by London Knights (@londonknights) on Mar 6, 2020 at 9:27pm PST