The Washington Capitals announced Friday afternoon that they have returned defenseman Vincent Iorio to AHL Hershey. Iorio was called up to the Capitals on March 3 and recorded one assist in three games played.
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The Washington Capitals have loaned defenseman Vincent Iorio to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL), senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today.
Iorio, 20, has recorded one assist in three games with the Capitals this season. The 6’4”, 205-pound defenseman made his NHL debut and recorded his first career point on March 4 at San Jose, becoming the 10th defenseman in franchise history to record a point in his NHL debut. Iorio was selected by the Capitals in the second round, 55th overall, in the 2021 NHL Draft.
Iorio has recorded 17 points (2g, 15a) in 51 games with Hershey this season and ranks second among Hershey defensemen in games played, tied for first in assists and second in points and plus/minus (+12). Among AHL rookie defensemen, Iorio ranks tied for fifth in plus/minus and tied for ninth in assists.
The Coquitlam, British Columbia native recorded a career-high 44 points (11g, 33a) in 60 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League (WHL) during the 2021-22 season, ranking second among Wheat Kings defensemen in goals, assists, points, power play-assists (10) and points per game (0.73). In 191 career WHL games with Brandon, Iorio recorded 82 points (21g, 61a).
The Bears begin a huge two-game weekend set against the Providence Bruins in Providence on Saturday. The Bears are a single standings point ahead of the Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division.
The Capitals begin a two-game road trip in New York this weekend with a tilt against the Islanders on Saturday.
Well, I’d rather he be on the ice for the Bears than sitting in the press box for the Caps so I guess I can’t be too upset.
Agree. Huge weekend set for the Bears. Battle for first place. What’s on tap for the Rays?
Next week, the Bears have a brutal schedule, 4 in 5 days, including 3 in 3, over the weekend. Guess we’ll be seeing pretty much everyone on the roster.
Sheesh. I hadn’t looked that far ahead. I think 3 in 3 is brutal (throw in long bus rides and it’s downright deplorable)
BTW Jon, wanted to ask you:
It’s college free agent season, and other teams have signed a few. Any word on if Danny Brooks has his eye on a few unsigned gems?
Oops, made a mistake. They play 15th, 17th and 18th, but not Sunday the 19th. Still, if you add in this weekend’s games, that’s 5 in 8 days. A pretty big ouch!
ECHL has its trade deadline Thursday.
Last Wednesday, Clay stopped 22 of 24 but Rays could only score one. Bear got the primary assist. Game was in Estero Florida where Lavi’s youngest goes to school.
Still in Estero tonight and tomorrow. Next week is free until Friday against Greenville.
Stingrays have a 58% win record. PK is 79% but PP is only 26%. Fifth in goals against. They’ve had 4 overtime wins, 4 overtime losses, 1 shootout win, 1 shootout loss. FloHockey ranks the Stingrays ninth in their power rankings.
An ECHL executive was at the game tonight and mentioned that the NHL teams were parking more and more players on ECHL teams, a la Clay.
Tyler Wall was just that for over two periods before allowing 2 goals on 35 shots. But 5 Stingrays goals (one by Bear) prevailed. Last half of third was one fight after the other and Everblades were able to take advantage of the open ice. Has was involved in the fighting and blocked shots as the clock ran down. Stage set for the rubber match tomorrow.
With this game, Stingrays move past Everblades and are now tied with Greenville for second in South division with 71 points. Jacksonville has 74, Everblades 70, Atlanta 66, Orlando 60. A very tight division, Rays have 15 games left.
ECHL gives another place to Stache and develop talent. With injury call ups from AHL to NHL, you also need call ups for AHL.
I like what they are doing with Iorio. Got him 3 games in NHL and he keeps his slide. He showed well, but definietely needs to develop more. But i like this kid and he should be a regular on Caps in 2 years. I think they need to sign TVR to a 2 year deal and have Iorio as a callup.
I suspect Chelsey will play another year of college hockey and eat big minutes next year at MN. So bears have some work to do on building out their blue line.
I’m on board with your take, Dwgie. I was working on Caps organizational depth chart for the blueline today. A few holes, but much better than 18-24 months ago. Hopefully Chesley is only one more year as a Gopher, but it could be two.
I suspect we will see one or two right-side defensemen drafted in June.
I wonder if they will sign Gucciardi to AHL contract next year. He is 20 now but they are going to need some left dee as well. There is also Brent Johnson (RD) and Lemay (LD) who was just voted an all-star. Maass and Has as possible graduates to Hershey. But we’ll need a veteran dee as well. Need a vet or two as well so maybe McIlrath comes back on AHL deal.
but yeah, a couple of dee in draft this year. Right or left. Need to restock that pond.
I agree with getting a veteran D also. I’ve floated the idea of signing Klingberg before, and I’ll stick with that. Pros: should be a cheap signing, after an off year, can fill in for JC, should he get injured again, right shot, brings O. Cons: does he have anything left in the tank?
TVR signing probably ends the Kingburg dream. But i was out on him anyway. He is like Justin Schultz and Carlson. No dee. Iorio as 4RD on waiver free call-up works.
Yup
I really hope this kid didn’t blossom just to find NHL success in another organization.
We were all convinced Ethen Frank was gonna go free agent. Maybe Gibby will sign with us too