The Washington Capitals announced on Tuesday afternoon that they signed forward Henry Rybinski from the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL. He’s recorded a career high 54 points this season. It is a three year entry level contract that will kick in in 2022-23 while he remains with Seattle this season.
The 20 year old has 18 goals and 36 assists in 39 games with the Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League. The six foot two, 185 pound forward leads Seattle with 1.38 points per game and ranks second in points and assists.
The Vancouver, B.C., native has recorded 15 multi point games this season and is tied for the team lead with four game winning goals. Rybinski has additionally won 428 of his 775 face offs this season which is a success rate of 55.2 percent.
During the 2020-21 season with Seattle, Rybinski led the team with 28 points with seven goals and 21 assists in 23 games and was tied for 20th in the WHL. In 225 career games with Seattle and the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL, Rybinski has recorded 165 points with 47 goals and 118 assists.
The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir was the first to report this news. Rybinski was drafted in the fifth round by the Florida Panthers in 2019. After being a participant in multiple camps, he did not end up signing with the Panthers. He also skated in the Edmonton Oilers rookie camp over the fall.
JD Burke of EPRinkside had him as the number one CHL free agent this year including “by a decent margin at that.” He goes by Henrik with the Thunderbirds but the Caps noted him has Henry which is his nickname.
Rybinski had quite the day when he got drafted. He passed a driver’s test and was at a Subway before getting a call from his agent telling him that he was drafted. With the draft in Vancouver, he was able to get back to the draft site for interviews and to receive his hat and jersey.