Washington Capitals fans enjoy following the exploits of the players on their roster. However, players eventually get traded, leave in free agency, or their skills decline with age. To replace the departing players, prospects are developing who could eventually take their place.
The Capitals prospects have played and will continue to play in various locations around the globe, including: 1) playing with the Capitals’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hershey Bears; 2) playing in Canadian junior hockey leagues; 3) playing in colleges that are part of the NCAA; and 4) playing in other hockey leagues to include European leagues and the Capitals’ ECHL affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays.
Capitals Prospects with the Hershey Bears
Capitals prospects who played with the Hershey Bears last season, most of whom are expected to remain with the Bears to start the 2024-25 season, include:
- Garin Bjorklund (Goaltender),
- Pierrick Dube (Left Wing),
- Ethan Frank (Center/Right Wing),
- Hardy Haman Aktell (Defenseman),
- Ryan Hofer (Left Wing),
- Vincent Iorio (Defenseman),
- Hendrix Lapierre (Center),
- Alex Limoges (Left Wing),
- Ivan Miroshnichenko (Left Wing),
- Henrik Rybinski (Right Wing),
- Hunter Shepard (Goaltender),
- Clay Stevenson (Goaltender),
- Riley Sutter (Right Wing), and
- Bogdan Trineyev (Right Wing).
Among the prospects, Center Hendrix Lapierre will likely not return to the Bears, given that he ended the season as a regular in the Capitals lineup and was only sent back to Hershey to help Hershey with their drive to repeat as Calder Cup champions. Left Wing Miroshnichenko will likely spend more time with the Capitals than he did in 2023-24. Defenseman Iorio will likely be one of the first players called up if a defenseman is needed. Other players who could get called up to Washington include wingers Dube, Frank, Limoges, and Sutter.
Other players likely to play with the Bears in 2024-25 include:
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- winger Zac Funk,
- Center Brett Hyland,
- left winger Alexander Suzdalev, and
- forward Haakon Hanelt.
Funk signed a contract with the Capitals after his junior hockey season. Hyland signed an AHL contract with the Bears during the off-season. Both Funk and Hyland are now finished with junior hockey.
Hanelt played in Germany last season but now plans to play with the Bears. Goaltenders Mitch Gibson and Garin Bjorklund will spend some time at Hershey if there are injury callups or if either Shepard or Stevenson gets traded to another organization.
Graduating from Bears: Hendrix Lapierre
New to Bears: Brett Hyland, Zac Funk, Haakon Hanelt
Capitals Prospects in Canadian Junior Hockey Leagues
Capitals prospects who played in Canadian Junior hockey last season were:
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- defenseman Cam Allen,
- left-wing Andrew Cristall,
- Forward Zac Funk,
- center Brett Hyland,
- goaltender Antoine Keller,
- right-wing Terik Parascak,
- left wing Alexander Suzdalev, and
- center/left wing Patrick Thomas
- winger Eriks Mateiko
Cristall, Hyland, Parascak, and Suzdalev all played in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Allen played in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Keller and Mateiko played in the QMJHL.
Funk and Hyland have aged out of junior hockey and will likely play with the Hershey Bears. Keller plans to play in the Swiss League in 2024-25 which is likely better for his development than returning to junior hockey. Suzdalev hopes to earn a job with Hershey. Allen, Cristall, Parascak, Thomas, and Mateiko will all likely return to their junior teams for 2024-25. Newly drafted Left-Wing Ilya Protas, who played in the USHL last season, will play with the Windsor Spitfires, an OHL team.
Graduating from Juniors: Zac Funk, Brett Hyland
New to Juniors: Ilya Protas
Capitals Prospects Playing in NCAA College Programs
Capitals prospects who played for NCAA college programs were
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- defenseman Ryan Chesley,
- goaltender Chase Clark,
- defenseman David Gucciardi,
- defenseman Brent Johnson,
- defenseman Joaquim Lemay, and
- right-wing Ryan Leonard.
All six of those players are returning to college hockey, although Clark and Lemay are transferring to different colleges for the 2024-25 season.
The college prospects will be joined by two more collegians: goaltender Nick Kempf and defenseman Cole Hutson.
Leaving College: None
New to College: Nick Kempf, Cole Hutson
Capitals Prospects Playing in Other Leagues
Last season, goaltenders Garin Bjorkland and Mitch Gibson played in the ECHL with the South Carolina Stingrays. They will likely return to South Carolina unless there is an opening in Hershey due to injury or trades.
Left winger Ludwig Persson played in a lower-level Finnish league last season but is slated to play in Finland’s top league in 2024-25.
Protas, drafted in 2024, played in the USHL, a junior hockey league in the USA. This coming year he will play with the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL. [Update: Miroslav Satan, who played in Slovakia last season, will play with the Windsor Spitfires next season.]
Newly drafted prospects defenseman Leon Muggli and center Petr Sikora will continue to play in Switzerland and Czechia next season.
Connections and Other Factoids
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- Zack Funk and Terik Parascak played with the Prince George Cougars of the WHL last season. Their center was Riley Heidt, Minnesota Wild second-round pick in 2023. All three players performed much better than expected. They were all teammates of Hunter Laing, a sixth-round pick of the Calgary Flames, the son of former Washington Capitals forward, Quintin.
- Ryan Chesley, Capitals second-round pick in 2022, played for the Minnesota Golden Gophers and, as a freshman, his team was top seed in the NCAA Playoffs in 2023, advanced to the Frozen Four Final game and lost. Ryan Leonard, Capitals first-round pick in 2023, played for Boston College and, as a freshman, his team was the top seed in the NCAA Playoffs in 2024, advanced to the Frozen Four Final game, and lost.
- The Washington Capitals traded up with the New Jersey Devils in the third round to trade up and choose Left Winger, Ilya Protas. Five years earlier, the Capitals had traded up with the Devils in the third round and selected Ilya’s older brother, Aliaksei.
- Ryan Leonard played on the same line on the US Development Team with Will Smith (2023 1st round pick by San Jose Sharks) and Gabriel Perreault (2023 1st round pick by New York Rangers) and played with them again at Boston College in 2023-24.
- Ryan Hofer’s older brother, Joel, is a goaltender for the St. Louis Blues.
- Cole Hutson will play hockey at Boston University with his older brother, Quinn. The Montreal Canadians drafted another older brother of his, Lane, in 2022.
- Andrew Cristall plays junior hockey for the Kelowna Rockets. Other former Capitals who’ve played with Kelowna are Lucas Johansen, Madison Bowey, Quintin Laing, Scott Hannan, Joel Kwiatkowski, and Nolan Yonkman.
- Miroslav Satan’s father, also named Miroslav, played in the NHL for 15 seasons.
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FULL ROSTER (click to enlarge)
By Diane Doyle