Photo: Regina Pats
The Regina Pats 2023 postseason run is off to a good start, taking the first two games of their first round playoff series with the Saskatoon Blades. Both of the Pats wins have come on the road in Saskatoon.
Washington Capitals forward prospect Alexander Suzdalev is also off to a hot start in his first postseason on North American soil. Suzdalev recorded three assists for the Pats in Regina’s 6-5 overtime win on Sunday night.
Suzdalev’s last helper of the game was setup the game-winner in overtime. It came on the power play at 2:05 of the 15-minute extra frame.
Alexander Suzdalev with the nice backhand feed for the game 2 game-winner. Pats lead first round series 2-0. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/6stL9mBhTU
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) April 3, 2023
Suzdalev has four assists in the first two games of the Pats first round series with the Blades. Phenom Connor Bedard had a hat trick in Game 2 and has five goals and three assists in the first two games of the series.
Suzdalev led all WHL rookies in goals (38), assists (48), points (86), power play goals (17), and power play assists (19), and tied for first in points per-game (1.30) during the regular season. He is a lock for WHL Rookie of the year, which has yet to be announced.
The Regina Pats named Suzdalev their Nick Pappas Rookie of the Year on Monday. (More here)
Game 3 of the Pats-Blades first round series is set for Tuesday night in Regina.
Well, to be fair, Suzdalev is older than most CHL rookies, and that does make a difference.
But I would also hate to break up the bromance he seems to have with Bedard… I think they should just send a letter to the NHL stating that the Caps should be awarded the first pick in the draft just so that these two good buddies can stay together…
He just turned 19 in March. I don’t think that’s a huge plus. In addition, this is his first year playing on North American sized rinks. But it’s a fair point you make.
Yeah but he also vastly outperformed the other European rookies that are 18-19 (Other than Lambert, but games played difference there)
I agree GRin430! You can’t break up Batman and Robin.
Right now they have the lowest odds of any lottery team. They can’t finish better than 5th lowest. Probably will be 7th to 12th.
Whomever gets Berard should be approached by the Caps for interest in Suz… prob fetch a great return…
Don’t think I like that idea. The problem is I can’t think of a time recently when a young, promising prospect was traded straight up for another promising star. For Suzdalev, you either get picks, which can be busts, and you get nothing. Or you get a couple years of a vet, and watch Suzdalev be a superstar for the next 15 years for someone else.
The only time I can really think of a young stud/young stud trade was Drouin for Sergachev. And Montreal got robbed in that.
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Suzdalev’s emergence as a scoring phenom requires a new verb to be coined for the Washington Capitals’ franchise. Used in a sentence, it goes, “Don’t Giroux the new recruit!”
This is reference to the one-time ultra-scoring Caps’ phenom prospect Alexandre Giroux. Goes back to the 2006-2010 era in Caps’ history. During that time, Mr. Giroux amassed the following season goal totals playing for the Hershey Bears: 42, 14. 60 and 50 goals. That’s a total of 166 — a LOT of goals! I recall a press interview with Kuznetsov when he was a newbie on the Caps team. A reporter asked him about Alex Giroux and Kuzy’s response was something like, “I had to ask Alex — HOW many goals was that?” That was shortly following his 60-goal season (2008-09).
We inaugurate the new verb “To Giroux” because the scoring phenom went on to have a magnificently UNSUCCESSFUL NHL career. He played VERY brief stints with NYR, the Caps, CBJ and Edmonton. AG seemed a total flop in the NHL. Giroux went on to play more effectively in the KHL and several leagues in France and Switzerland.
As a long-suffering Caps’ fan, I have the right to point fingers! How did the AHL and NHL fail this young player? Scoring 110 goals in two AHL seasons can only be accomplished by a supreme talent. Both coaches Hanlon and Boudreau had their chances with AG. A fair amount of early Caps’ internet blogosphere commentary was lament over the inability of Alexandre Giroux to play effectively in the NHL. Fair enough.
The point is that this fan loathes the idea of the latest Caps “brain trust” and coaching people WRECKING their sudden new crop of extremely talented goal-scoring phenoms. Suzdalev, Hofer, Miroschnichenko, McMichael and Frank all qualify. It’s clear that there is “no guarantee” with any professional hockey prospect. But the Giroux “flame out” was really ugly — and the current Caps’ coaching regime has a record of wrecking young talent – Big Time.
Suzdalev, Hofer, Miroschnichenko, McMichael and Frank are legitimate NHL Caps’ scoring prospects. The Ross Mahoney pipeline has performed well in bringing these talents to the Caps during a period (which is about to be interrupted) where the Caps have been a perennial Playoff contender. I’m watching CLOSELY! I’m sure many Caps fans are too. Don’t Bogart that Joint! Don’t Giroux my prospect! Don’t Stephenson my scorer! Let’s be SUCCESSFUL with young talent for a change.
There have been a lot of failed Caps prospects over the years, starting with the first pick in team history: Greg Joly. Add to him: Reggie Savage, Jeff Greenlaw, David A. Jensen, John Slaney, Nolan Baumgartner, Alexander Kharlamov, my favorite Miika Elomo, Brad Church, Kris Beech, Alex Volchkov, Yogi Svejkovsky, Nolan Yonkman….. Whew! Lemme catch my breath. And I haven’t even reached the 2000s yet.
Is it poor drafting, or poor prospect development? If I knew the answer, I’d ask for the corner office at Medstar Capsplex, and a 7 figure salary.
The Dallas Stars have drafted and developed, in recent years, Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, Jake Oettinger, and junior phenom Logan Stankoven. All of those are high producing NHL players right now, except Stankoven, and all were picked late in the 1st, or in the 2nd rounds, except Heiskanen. So there goes the theory that being a winning team, and drafting late, hurts your talent pool.
Dallas is doing something the Caps aren’t. Wish I knew what it was.
I mean hurray for the Dallas Stars who have missed the playoffs 9 times since the 2004 lock out and have won exactly Zero Cups or President’s trophies during that time and they didn’t even have to contend with a Pittsburgh in their division. The Caps have developed Carlson, Wilson, Kuzy, Burakovsky, Orlov, Holtby and now Marty and Protas and they expect McMichael to play next year. The Caps didn’t even have first of seconds most of those years because they were trading for players like Eller who did much better here than in Montreal.
If you can’t see that the Stars are ascending, while the Caps are flaming out quicker than a washed up Brat Pack actor on a weekend bender, then you don’t know much about NHL hockey. The Stars made the Cup Finals in 2020.How many playoff series have the Caps won since 2018? Zero. How many will they win this year? You don’t have to be the Amazing Kreskin to predict it’ll be zero.
“The Caps have developed Carlson, Wilson, Kuzy, Burakovsky, Orlov, Holtby”
Holtby’s career is over, Carlson and Kuzy are on the downside, Bura and Orlov are gone.
“and now Marty and Protas and they expect McMichael to play next year.”
Decent mid tier prospects, but how many 90 point players have the Cap developed like Jason Robertson in the past decade? How many all star goalies like Jake Oettinger? Ummmm……none?
I don’t think that is what Anon was saying. It’s more of a “just because they drafted Finns they are going to be great.”. It is that they have been futile for years while caps have developed much better. I’d agree with that.
It’s tough times in Caps land right now for sure. But in terms of longevity in the modern era (say last 20 years), the models to be followed are Penguins, Lightning, and Caps pretty much in that order. Pens and Lightning get the nod because they have more cups. But you can’t argue with the Caps success over the last 20 years. It’s been world class.
OK, first off, you got something wrong here.
I didn’t say “just because they drafted Finns, they’re going to be great”. I mentioned 6 players, only 2 are Finnish. Please read and comprehend better in the future, since I dislike having to correct people. The point was the Stars have done a better job drafting and developing over the last ten years, which actually coincides with MacLellan taking over. The Caps drafted two goalies, who failed with the team, the Stars drafted an all star. The Caps drafted a forward in the 1st round who has an undisclosed issue, that’s affected his career, the Stars plucked a 90 point scorer out of the 2nd round.
The Stars came out of bankruptcy in 2011, and owner Tom Gaglardi took several years to reorganize them. That’s why they weren’t among the elite. But the Ovi era is coming to an end. What have you done for me lately. Referring to all those division titles and presidents trophies is ludicrous now. That’s as relevant as Britney Spears, the Lost TV show and America Online. The Stars are going in the right direction, the Caps are taking steps back. It’s that simple.
Eller didn’t do “much better” in DC than Montreal. He scored about 4 points more per season. He had a defined role with the Caps, and one great playoff season, but his regular season output was roughly the same.
There’s something wrong with your theory. Giroux was a 7th round pick of Ottawa. By the time the Caps got him, he was already 25 years old, and he had washed out of both the Senators and Rangers systems. So the Caps did not fail him. Your conclusion isn’t correct. It’s not “The Caps failed a promising prospect” it’s “He had a pretty good minor league career for a 7th rounder”
Ivan Mirishnichenko update:
Miro’s MHL club, Omskie Yastreby got off to a winning start, in their semifinal series against SKA-1946, 1-0
Miro wasn’t on the scoresheet, though he did good, but unglamorous, things. He skated hard to negate an icing, in the first. He went down to block a shot, but too early. The defenseman skated around him. He set up position in front of the net, but got cross checked, in the third. No call, and he asked the ref why.
Lookedije a classic first game “feeling each other out” of a playoff series. Maybe it’ll open up in the coming games.