Photo: Ontario Hockey League
The Washington Capitals have arguably been a serious contender for most, if not all of Bryan MacLellan’s tenure as General Manager. However, the cost of maintaining a contender has not been highly conducive to optimizing the development of prospects.
Contending teams have less openings in the lineup for new prospects and often have less patience with younger players in the lineup, often preferring veteran players for depth roles. Contending teams also often utilize draft picks for deals to acquire missing pieces or to fortify the lineup for a postseason run.
In this post we’ll look at the prospects who were drafted since MacLellan became General Manager following the 2013-14 season, and what has happened to them. We will concentrate on players who became part of the organization and omit the unsigned players, and only cover prospects drafted in 2020 and prior, since it’s too soon to judge the players from later drafts.
2014 NHL ENTRY DRAFT
Photo: Washington Post
Jakub Vrana – Drafted in Round 1 with Pick #13.
Vrana joined the Capitals’ organization near the end of the 2014-15 season when he joined the Hershey Bears. He made his debut with the Capitals during the 2016-17 season and became a full time NHL player in 2017-18. He remained with the team until he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings during the 2020-21 season. He suffered a shoulder injury in 2021-22 and needed surgery during training camp. He went into the Player Assistance program early in the 2022-23 season and was waived and sent to the Wings’ AHL team, the Grand Rapids Griffins, where he remains to this day. He is likely to be bought-out or traded at the end of 2022-23.
Vitek Vanecek – Drafted in Round 2 with Pick #39
Vanecek joined the Capitals’ organization during the 2015-16 season, playing with the South Carolina Stingrays. He played one game with the Hershey Bears that season, too. He played for the Bears from 2016-17 through 2019-20 and became a full-time NHL player in 2020-21 and for the next two seasons, was part of a goaltending tandem with Ilya Samsonov (drafted in 2015). He was traded to the New Jersey Devils after the 2021-22 season for two draft picks and is currently the #1 goaltender for the New Jersey Devils, who are a strong second place team in the Metropolitan Division.
Nathan Walker – Drafted in Round 3 with Pick #89
Walker was with the Hershey Bears prior to being drafted. He played with the Bears from 2015-16 through 2018-19, occasionally being called up to the Capitals. He joined the St Louis Blues organization after the 2018-19 season and has been with them since then. He has spent the entire 2022-23 season with the Blues.
Shane Gersich – Drafted in Round 5 with Pick #134
Gersich played three games with the Capitals in 2017-18 but has played for the Bears from 2018-19 to the present.
2015 NHL ENTRY DRAFT
Photo: Washington Post
Ilya Samsonov – Drafted in Round 1 with Pick #22
Samsonov joined the Capitals’ organization during the 2018-19 season, first playing for the Hershey Bears. The next season he joined the Capitals where he remained through 2021-22. He was not tendered a qualifying offer last off-season and signed a contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs where he is part of a tandem with Matt Murray, but seems to have earned the #1 goaltender role for them.
Jonas Siegenthaler – Drafted in Round 2 with Pick #57
Siegenthaler played a few games for the Hershey Bears in both 2015-16 and 2016-17 but joined the Bears full time for 2017-18. The following season, 2018-19, he was called up to the Caps and played 26 games. He remained with the Capitals through 2020-21 when he was traded to the New Jersey Devils. While with the Caps, he was often a healthy scratch and ultimately asked for a trade. He is now a regular with the New Jersey Devils.
2016 NHL ENTRY DRAFT
Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Lucas Johansen – Drafted in Round 1 with Pick #28
Johansen joined the Capitals organization in 2017-18 and has mostly played with the Hershey Bears, but has played three games for the Capitals. He currently remains with the Bears. His development was set back by injuries.
Garrett Pilon – Drafted in Round 3 with Pick #87
Pilon joined the Capitals organization in 2018-19 and has mostly played with the Hershey Bears but has played three games with the Caps and scored a goal in his first game with the team. He currently remains with the Bears.
Damien Riat – Drafted in Round 4 with Pick #117
Riat played for the Hershey Bears for the 2020-21 season but has mainly played in the Swiss Leagues and signed a three-year deal with Lausanne HC last summer. 2020-21 was his only season in North America.
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby – Drafted in Round 5 with Pick #147
Jonsson-Fjallby divided his time between the Hershey Bears and teams in the Swedish league from 2018-19 through 2020-21. During the 2021-22 season, he mostly played with the Hershey Bears but also played 23 games with the Washington Capitals. He was waived before the 2022-23 season when the Winnipeg Jets claimed him. He is currently a regular member of the Winnipeg Jets starting lineup.
Beck Malenstyn – Drafted in Round 5 with Pick #125
Malenstyn joined the Capitals organization for the 2018-19 season and played with the Hershey Bears. He has mostly played with the Bears but has played 20 games with the Caps in portions of three different seasons.
2017 NHL ENTRY DRAFT
Tobias Geisser – Drafted in Round 4 with Pick #120
Geisser joined the Capitals organization in 2018-19 and played one full season with the Hershey Bears. In 2019-20, he played a few games with the Bears but has mostly played in Switzerland. He played for the Bears during the 2021-22 season but returned to Switzerland for the current season after signing a three-year deal with EV Zug.
2018 NHL Entry Draft
Photo: NHL
Alexander Alexeyev – Drafted in Round 1 with Pick #31
Alexeyev joined the Hershey Bears for the 2019-20 season. He played most of the 2020-21 season in the KHL due to the pandemic cancelling much of the Bears’ season. He played with the Bears during the 2021-22 season. This season, since recovering from a knee injury, he has played with the Capitals but has often been a healthy scratch. His career has been set back by injuries.
Martin Fehervary – Drafted in Round 2 with Pick #46
Fehervary mostly played with the Bears during the 2019-2020 season but also played six games with the Capitals that same season. He remained with the Bears for 2020-21 but became a full-time member of the Capitals since the 2021-22 season. He is currently one of the regular defensemen in the Capitals lineup.
Kody Clark – Drafted in Round 2 with Pick #47
Clark has played with the Hershey Bears since the 2019-20 season. So far, he has missed the entire 2022-23 season due to injuries. His career has been set back by injuries.
Riley Sutter – Drafted in Round 3 with Pick #93
Sutter has played with the Hershey Bears since the 2019-20 season. His career has been set back by injuries, but he has been relatively healthy in 2022-23 and has reached a career high in games played during a professional season.
2019 NHL ENTRY DRAFT
Connor McMichael – Drafted in Round 1 with Pick #25
Because he could not play junior hockey in 2020-21, he started his professional career with the Hershey Bears that season. He played for the Washington Capitals during 2021-22. This season, he made the Capital’s roster but was often a healthy scratch and has been sent back to Hershey to get more playing time.
Brett Leason – Drafted in Round 2 with Pick #56
Leason joined the Hershey Bears for the 2019-20 season and also played with them in 2020-21. In 2021-22, he divided his time with the Capitals and the Bears. He was waived before the 2022-23 season and claimed by the Anaheim Ducks. He currently plays for the Ducks.
Aliaksei Protas – Drafted in Round 3 with Pick #91
Protas joined the Hershey Bears for the tail end of the 2020-21 season after his KHL season was over. He divided his time in 2021-22 with the Capitals and the Bears. This season, he has played mostly with the Capitals but has also played with the Bears.
2020 NHL ENTRY DRAFT
Hendrix Lapierre – Drafted in Round 1 with Pick #22
Lapierre spent six games with the Capitals for the 2021-22 season before being sent to back to Junior Hockey. He has spent the 2022-23 season with the Hershey Bears.
IN SUMMARY
Among the prospects the Capitals have drafted between 2014 and 2020, only two are currently with the Capitals: Martin Fehervary and Alex Alexeyev. Another prospect, Protas, will likely rejoin them when the team resumes post All-Star Break practices.
Some of the prospects have earned roles on the team but had initially not lived up to expectations so were traded away or allowed to leave in free agency, which included Jakub Vrana, Ilya Samsonov, and Vitek Vanecek. Several prospects have not been able to take the next step and remain at the AHL level.
The team has often prioritized acquiring veterans to fill vacant roles. On defense it was the trade deadline trades for Michal Kempny, Nick Jensen, and Brendan Dillon, along with free agent signings, to include Zdeno Chara in 2020-21 and Erik Gustafsson before the 2022-23 season, which made it tougher for young defensemen to earn roles on the team.
Among forwards, it was signing Dylan Strome in free agency before this season and signing other veteran free agents in prior seasons, which made it tougher for young forwards to earn jobs.
By Diane Doyle
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Two draft picks on the team. I wonder what the league average is for this. Caps seem low.
Ah, good idea. Diane? 😁
It will take a while to research every team to find out the fate of their main prospects in the last 10 years.
I checked out Boston and Pittsburgh, just for fun. Pitt has not drafted any regulars since 2014, inclusive, unless we count Kasperi Kapanen who they drafted, traded away, and later reacquired. Pitt’s last good draft was 2013. Boston drafted a fair number of regulars between 2014 and 2017 but it’s been dry since then.
We have more then two draft picks on our team !!
Seems that certain players leave and blossom…VV, Samsonov, Stephenson, AJF is doing well and Leason is doing ok. SO maybe the problem is coaching the the NHL level. Or is the problem is scouting? I think one thing that has hurt the Caps has been drafting the past many years in the lower 20’s and not being able to get the impact players. Also when making trades the seem to give up on young players and picks quickly in order to get rid of a player making a high salary but then take on a high salary which seems to be a net 0 gain. Just an observation: ever wonder why Samsonov was there in the 1st round at the 22nd pick if he was suppose to be so good? Why did 21 other teams pass on him yet the Caps grab him?
It is very rare for any goalie to be drafted early in the first round, particularly a Russian. Vasilevsky went 19th, but Sorokin in the 3rd round, Shesterkin in the 4th, Bobrovsky and Georgiev weren’t drafted at all. Those are some pretty good “finds”.
Samsonov was picked in the 1st round because he is a physical freak who can do things other goalies can’t… whether they should or not. His technique was atrocious as a junior, flying and flopping all over the place, but when he was on he was unbeatable at that level. He was seen as a project no matter what, but if he was willing to learn the easy way to save pucks he was projected as a superstar. That hasn’t happened yet, because his technique, while better, still isn’t consistent.
In contrast, Vanecek has about half the talent, but much better technique. He’s much smaller than Samsonov and can’t move laterally like Ilya, but also doesn’t create as many holes when he does move. His game is to be in position before the shot so that it just hits him, while Samsonov can totally misread a play and still sometimes stop the puck. If the Caps could have combined the traits of both of them, they could have had… a Vasilevsky, Shesterkin or Sorokin!
Another key point, not made above, is that contending teams draft lower in the order than perennial losers. Only one of the kids listed above was drafted in the top 20, Vrana, who dropped to 13 despite his elite tool set due to his perceived unwillingness to play without the puck, which is still a significant issue.
Once you get past the top 5 in most NHL drafts, it becomes a real crap shoot. These are 18-yr-olds, not fully developed players in their 20s, like the NFL is drafting. Some grow up to be excellent players… some, including first-rounders, never grow up.
The fact that the Caps have recently been pursuing late bloomers from NCAA hockey indicates an awareness that they need to find talent outside of the draft. 22-24 year olds who have played for excellent coaches in well-structured systems are more known quantities than the younger kids, but tend to have less physical talent (otherwise they would have been drafted). A kid like Ethen Frank with elite speed and an NHL shot is an anomaly, but if the Caps can sign him and he turns out to be an NHL star, that helps fill a talent gap created by drafting low every year.
Assuming an NHL player can play an average of 7-10 years, teams would need 2-3 picks per year to become NHL players to fill their roster with nothing but their own draftees. The Caps have drafted well enough, despite picking lower — I count 18 draftees over 7 years on the list above that have played in the NHL, and more may prove out in the future (Mitchell Gibson is one example). The fact that they aren’t all playing for the Caps is an issue with coaching and management, but they did win a Cup in this time period, and have been in the hunt every year, so it isn’t like they’ve been a complete failure.
I just hope Caps management/coaches give the kids currently in the system a real shot at making it in DC, or they at least get decent return for them vs. letting them escape via waivers or bad trades. This Hershey team is winning for some reason, and it isn’t because the AHL lifers who have been there for several years are having career years. The Caps need to see what the kids down there can do at the NHL level so that they can manage those assets better.
It is true in general. The long-term contenders consistently draft at the end of the first round and often trade first and second round picks to acquire players to improve their chances in the playoffs. Granted, this article wasn’t focused on the reasons for lower picks but more on the fate of the guys that got selected and signed with the team.
Maybe the GM should be the one to go
Barber deserved to get a real chance. He did everything humanly possible in AHL. Would like gor Pillon and Snievly to get real look bit that for sure wont be with the Capitals
Barber never did get much of a chance. He excelled at Hershey. Admittedly, Barber was not included in this article since he was drafted prior to 2014. That was also the case with Andre Burakovsky.
Yeesh, that is rough. Especially when you see other guys they passed on that could be future building pieces
Draft well but the Jonas S for a 3rd was terrible…
To me an X Factor is how healthy the prospect can stay. Look at Ovi and how healthy he has been. Analyst after analyst comment on this. Then go back and read a lot of the blurbs above where it says “career beset by injuries.” It’s not just the lost time when injured, but how healed is the player after the injury. After 2 or 3 major injuries, we have an older player who not only has missed that practicing and playing time but whose body has been permanently hindered and hampered by those injuries.
The real reason picks haven’t materialized is simple….GM! Ultimately at draft table he’s one with final say on picks. He’s also one with final yes or no at training camps on why player goes stays up or down to minors. Chandler was prime example of someone who did everything he could at every level when he had chance but could never get past not good enough for this team! Now he’s on first line & All-Star! What changed “ice time / opportunity “= success. If this team would give prospect “true chance” @ NHL leve they would see better results! Got to make mistakes to learn from them! Carlson wasn’t star defenseman when he started be here’s key word DEVELOPED into star. If no time or opportunities happen other teams & scouts will find better players outside thier systems.