We end the month of May with another Washington Capitals rookie report card. Today it’s Virginia naive Joe Snively who was the first first NHL player from the commonwealth to play for the hometown team. He signed with the Capitals as an undrafted free agent in the spring of 2019.
Among all the rookies, Snively was my favorite one to watch. He grew up in Herndon, VA which is right next to where I live in Sterling. He played hockey for the Little Caps during his youth and even got his hockey gloves signed by the great eight Alex Ovechkin himself.
Snively scored four goals and three assists for seven points in 12 games. It’s a small sample size but he truly showed the team the spark he could bring. He made his NHL debut on Dec. 19 at home against the Los Angels Kings, notching an assist and nearly scoring a goal.
The first goal came on Feb. 10 at the Montreal Canadiens in what was a two goal and three point night with an assist too. He then had a two game goal streak on the road against the Nashville Predators and Philadelphia Flyers before his season ended with a wrist injury.
Snively also spent time with the Hershey Bears of the AHL where he had 15 goals and 23 assists for 38 points in 35 games. He had wrist surgery that sidelined him for four to six weeks. He would join the Bears playoff roster.
Despite the injury, Snively had a good season and will be another player that will compete for a forward spot come training camp time.
Grade B+: There’s no hometown bias in this grade I promise. With seven points in 12 games, the kid did pretty much what he had to do for the team. Look for Snively to be a dark horse candidate to make the roster next season.