Washington Capitals: Top 10 Prospects Post-2015 NHL Draft
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Capitals prospect system has definitely improved over the past 365 days. Not only have some of their prospects grown a lot over the past year, some had outstanding seasons and the Washington Capitals also added a brand new crop of prospects during the 2015 NHL Draft.
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Before I begin, let me define what I believe to be a prospect, because I believe that is very relevant to this list.
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- Prospects must be younger than 25 years old. Once you hit 25 years old, you are no longer a prospect.
- Prospects must have played in less than 50 NHL games. Once you’ve played in 50 NHL games over a two year period, I can’t really consider you to be a prospect anymore.
Let’s start with a review of the Washington Capitals farm system and its positions of strength and its positions of need.
- Goaltending. Between Braden Holtby, Philipp Grubauer, Vitek Vanecek and new addition Ilya Samsonov, the Washington Capitals have a huge surplus in goal. This is a terrific area to have a lot of depth in for several reasons. First of all, as we saw this weekend, teams will give up assets for goaltenders, even if they are unproven. Secondly, goaltenders are inconsistent. It’s always good to have a lot of depth there in case you need it.
- Forwards. The Washington Capitals are a bit lacking in this regard. Jakub Vrana is an elite prospect, but he currently appears to be the only elite forward prospect that the Caps have. Riley Barber could be a top six forward. I still like Chandler Stephenson quite a bit, but he has to prove that he can stay healthy.
- Defensemen. Madison Bowey and Jonas Siegenthaler have very high upside. Bowey could be a top pairing caliber defenseman, while Siegenthaler’s ceiling is closer to a second pairing stay-at-home defenseman than a first pairing guy. Connor Carrick has upside, but he has the misfortune of having to beat out Bowey for a roster spot in the future. Patrick Wey‘s sudden retirement hurts this group a little bit.
This list is being made mostly based on upside and value to the organization. I’ll look at each player’s ceiling and what value they bring to the Washington Capitals.
Next: #10: Shane Gersich