The Washington Capitals have announced their roster for this week’s rookie camp, which begins on Thursday and runs through Sunday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. Rookie camp provides one last opportunity for player instruction from Capitals coaches and development evaluation by management prior to the start of the 2022-23 season.
The roster for the 2022 Washington Capitals Rookie Camp:
| PROSPECT | POS | HT | WT | DRAFT YR | ROUND |
| Frank, Ethan | F | 5′-11″ | 185 | Undrafted | – |
| Bjorklund, Garin | G | 6’2″ | 179 | 2020 | 6 |
| Hanelt, Haakon | F | 6’0″ | 183 | 2022 | 5 |
| Has, Martin Hugo | RD | 6′-4″ | 207 | 2019 | 5 |
| Hofer, Ryan | C | 6-3″ | 181 | 2022 | 6 |
| Hughes, Bear | C | 6’1″ | 165 | 2020 | 5 |
| Iorio, Vincent | RD | 6′-3″ | 194 | 2021 | 2 |
| Karabela, Jake | C | 5-11″ | 172 | 2022 | 5 |
| Krebs, Dru | LD | 6′-0″ | 181 | 2021 | 6 |
| Lapierre, Hendrix | C | 6′-0″ | 181 | 2020 | 1 |
| Laviolette, Peter | F | 6′-4″ | 201 | Undrafted | – |
| Maass, Benton | RD | 6′-3″ | 205 | 2017 | 6 |
| Motew, Simon | RD | 6′-1″ | 185 | Undrafted | – |
| Nabravnik, Julian | RW | 5′-11″ | 174 | Undrafted | – |
| Persson, Ludwig | C/LW | 6′-0″ | 185 | 2022 | 3 |
| Rybinski, Henry | C | 6′-2″ | 185 | 2019 | 5 |
| Stevenson, Clay | G | 6′-4″ | 195 | Undrafted | – |
| Suzdalev, Alexander | LW | 6-2″ | 176 | 2022 | 3 |
Ethan Frank, Julian Napravnik, Benton Maass and Bear Hughes are signed to contracts with the Hershey Bears. Peter Laviolette and Simon Motew remain unsigned free agents.
BY POSITION
FROM THE CAPITALS
Four picks from the Capitals’ 2022 NHL Draft class will attend this year’s Rookie Camp – forward Alexander Suzdalev (70th overall), forward Ludwig Persson (85th overall), forward Jake Karabela (149th overall) and forward Ryan Hofer (181st overall). Twelve of the 18 participants in this year’s camp are Capitals’ draft picks (also Benton Maass: 182nd overall in 2017; Martin Has: 153rd overall in 2019; Hendrix Lapierre: 22nd overall in 2020; Bear Hughes: 148th overall in 2020; Garin Bjorklund: 179th overall in 2020; Vincent Iorio: 55th overall in 2021; Haakon Hanelt: 151st overall in 2021; Dru Krebs: 176th overall in 2021).
2021 Rookie Camp participants Connor McMichael, Hendrix Lapierre, Brett Leason, and Aliaksei Protas all went on to appear in games with the Capitals during the 2021-22 season. McMichael, who led Washington rookies in goals (9) and points (18), played 68 NHL games and ranked tied for second on the Capitals in individual scoring chances at five-on-five (113).
Lapierre appeared in six games with Washington prior to being assigned to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the QMJHL on Nov. 10, scoring his first career goal in his NHL debut on Oct. 13 vs. the New York Rangers. Leason recorded six points (3g, 3a) in 36 NHL games and made his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut in Game 2 of the First Round at Florida. Protas, the Capitals’ third-round choice, 91stoverall, in the 2019 NHL Draft, recorded nine points (3g, 6a) in 33 games with the Capitals and 24 points (8g, 16a) in 42 games with AHL Hershey, which led Bears’ rookies.
In total, Capitals’ rookies scored a combined 32 goals and recorded 65 points in 2021-22, which ranked tied for fifth and 11th in the NHL, respectively.
Washington Capitals Rookie Camp Guide
CAPITALS UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Thursday, Sept. 15
Players physicals/testing – no media availability
Friday, Sept. 16
12:30 p.m.: Goalies on ice (Capitals rink)
12:45 – 2 p.m.: All players on ice (Capitals rink)
Post-practice: Media availability
Saturday, Sept. 17
9 a.m.: Goalies on ice (Capitals rink)
9:15 – 10:30 a.m.: All players on ice (Capitals rink)
Post-practice: Media availability
Sunday, Sept. 18
9 – 9:30 a.m.: On-Ice Testing (Capitals rink)
9:45 – 10:30 a.m.: All players on ice (Capitals rink)
Post-practice: Media availability
Monday, September 19
12:30 p.m.: Goalies on ice (Capitals rink)
12:45 – 2 p.m.: All players on ice (Capitals rink)
Post-practice: Media availability
Wednesday, Sept. 21
NHL players physicals/testing- no media availability
Thursday, Sept. 22
2022 Caps Media Day, MedStar Capitals Iceplex
*All practice times and media availability sessions are approximate and subject to change.
Many of the participants in this years rookie camp will remain in Washington for the start of Capitals training camp on Thursday, September 22, and will also likely play in a preseason game or two before returning to their junior teams for the 2022-23 season.
By Jon Sorensen
If my math is correct, that’s 4h30 on ice over 5 days. That’s not much. Discussions, video reviews could be done over zoom. physicals could be done remotely. Caps are one of three (I think) teams not doing a competition. What am I missing? Certainly this can’t be all there is to camp?
I’m with you on time on ice. Instruction and team building is also important, but a couple more scrimmages would be nice.
As for the tournaments, I also agree, but consider that the last rookie tournament there were three players that returned on the DL (Alexeyev, Sutter, Clark). I think that might be the reason.
True, I’m not advocating a tournament just saying that they are missing that ice time as well. I can see team building with players who are going to be on a team but where is each of these going next? They need to be team building there. If the instruction isn’t on ice, it could be done remotely. So maybe they will be on ice individually or in pairs during the day and they just aren’t listing it? Just seems wrong, like we got half the schedule.
Yep, I’m on board with your management preferences.
Remember that regular camp starts immediately after and almost all of the rookies will be invited to stay at least for a little while. This will be to look at the rookies individually.
I am happy to see Has will be there. I was afraid the Caps had written him off. He probably needs to have a strong showing through both camps to get an AHL contract.
That’s correct, a majority of the prospects will report to the main training camp and hopefully get in a preseason game (Buffalo on 9/25) or two before returning to their teams.