Washington Capitals Draft: Breaking down strengths of David Gucciardi

With their seventh and final selection of the 2022 NHL Draft, the Washington Capitals selected David Gucciardi in the seventh round at 213th overall. He is a defenseman.

Here is what Elite Prospects said about Gucciardi in their draft guide:

"Every time Gucciardi is on the ice, he demands the puck, gets it, passes, and then joins the rush to get it back. He recognizes space up the ice before many of his forwards, and finishes his off-puck routes to create space behind him. Most of his activation leads to shots from his own stick, but he shows enough passing skill to believe a change in mentality will lead to far better offensive results."

Gucciardi is a native of Toronto and is listed as six foot one and 194 pounds. He is coming off his first NCAA season with Michigan State University where he recorded 11 points in 36 games with five goals and six assists during his freshman year.

Prior to attending college he was a journeyman with the USHL. In 2019-20 he started out with the Muskegon Lumberjacks where he had two assists in 12 games. He finished the year with the Sioux City Musketeers recording 11 points in 23 games with three goals and eight assists.

The next year he split time between the Youngstown Phantoms and the Waterloo Black Hawks. With the Phantoms he recorded three assists in four games. With the Black Hawks he had 17 points in 29 games with seven goals and 10 assists.

Gucciardi was the second defenseman the Capitals took in this year’s draft after taking Ryan Chesley in the second round at 37th overall. The Caps first pick of the draft was Ivan Miroshnichenko. They also selected forward Alexander Suzdalev, forward Ludwig Persson, and centers Jake Karabela and Ryan Hofer.

Overall this was a good draft by the Capitals and we’ll be breaking it down even more in the coming days.