Two of the best prospects in the Washington Capitals organization are on their way to the Hershey Bears to start their pro career.
Washington gave Forwards Andrew Cristall and Ilya Protas to Hershey on Friday together with Vooruit Eriks Mateiko together with defenders Ryan Chesley and Leon Muggli.
Cristall led the WHL 48-84-132 in the splitting of last season between the Kelowna Rockets and Spokane Chiefs. He then finished second in the play-off score with 21-20-41 in 19 games when Spokane reached the WHL final. Washington took Cristall, now 20, as a second round pick in the NHL design of 2023. Protas, whose older brother, Aliaksei, played in Hershey before he became a fixture in Washington, had his own dominant season in the OHL. His 50-74-124 in 61 games before the Windsor Spitfires were in second place in the competition. He went to the capitals like a pick from the third round from 2024 and just became July 19. Cristall (2-0-2) and Protas (1-1-2) each played four season matches for the Capitals before the relocation of Friday.
Chesley, Mateiko and Muggli are three other important prospects in the Washington system. Mateiko, who turns 20 in November, spent last season in the QMJHL between the Saint John Sea Dogs and Rimouski Oceanic (26-15-41 in 47 games in the regular season). Chesley is a 21-year-old who finally became a pro last season with De Beren after three seasons at the University of Minnesota. The capitals made him a second round pick in 2022. Muggli is only 19, but he brings the most pro experience of the five new additions with 82 games in the regular season in the Swiss National League for EV Zug. Washington took him in the second round of the NHL design of 2024.
Forward Sheldon Rempel, who had 85 goals in the regular season in three seasons between the Abbotsford Canucks and Henderson Silver Knights for a 31-goal campaign with UFA Salavat Yulayev of the KHL last season, drawn with the Capitals this summer. They also assigned him to Hershey on Friday, but he must first erase exemptions. Washington still has 27 players in his selection, including prospects Vincent Iorio, Hendrix Lapierre, Ryan Leonard, Ivan Miroshnichenko and Clay Stevenson. The capitals are confronted with the Columbus Blue Jackets in their pre -season final in Capital One Arena on Saturday evening before the NHL schedule Deadline this Monday at 5 pm et.
As always is the case in the AHL in front season, the Hershey schedule remains pretty fluent. Play for new head coach Derek King, Hershey dropped a 2-1 shootout decision on Friday morning on the road to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. They visit the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Sunday afternoon in their final preparation of the preseason for their regular season opener in Giant Center against the Syracuse Crunch on 11 October.
Hershey fans will see a much other – and younger – team for that opening match. Calder Cup champions in 2023 and 2024, the Hershey schedule has undergone a dramatic transformation this summer. Head coach Todd Nelson left to become an assistant coach at the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ethan Bear, Pierrick Dubé, Brad Hunt, Alex Limoges, Jake Massie, Luke Philp, Chase Priskie, Mike Sarbossa, Hunter Shepard, Riley Sutter and Mike Vecchione all left elsewhere, while Utility Forward Forward Forward Ret.
The Bears took the title of the Atlantic Division last season with a record of 44-20-7-1; The Charlotte Checkers, however, wiped them in the final of the Atlantic Division and ended the bid of the Bears to become the first three-peat Calder Cup champion since 1962.
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