Breaking down the top prospects on the Capitals

The Washington Capitals haven’t been ranked near the top of the NHL in terms of prospects but that’s what comes from teams that make the playoffs all the time. But at least it’s better than the Nationals farm system.

Today we’ll look at the top Caps prospects and who to watch this season.

Hendrix Lapierre: Hendrix Lapierre had an up and down season overall but he did experience the thrill of scoring his first NHL goal. Now he enters this season as the Caps top prospect.

In 40 Ames with Acadie Bathurst Titan of the QMJHL, he played in 40 games and recorded 21 goals and 30 assists for 51 points. He was sent there after he played in six NHL games. The question this season is could there be a spot for him on the Caps out of training camp or will we have to wait a little bit?

Ivan Miroshnichenko: He was selected at 20th overall in this summer’s NHL Draft. He’s got quite a last name to pronounce and he starts his career second on our Caps prospects list. He was easily a top 10 prospect leading up to the draft until he bailed Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The question for him is can he be the player he was before that diagnosis? If he can the Caps rebuild can go quicker than we anticipate. Perhaps he can keep the window just a crack open.

Aliaksei Protas: With the injury to Nicklas Backstrom we’ve talked a lot about centers. Who we haven’t talked about yet this summer is Aliaksei Protas who has the potential to be a dark horse candidate for the center position.

Protas has 33 NHL games under his belt and has three goals and six assists for nine points. He also recorded eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points in 42 games for the Hershey Bears last season.

Vincent Iorio: Vincent Iorio is now the defenseman to watch with Alex Alexeyev undergoing surgery and being out for a little bit to start the season. Iorio was selected at 55th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft.

Iorio had a breakout season last year in the WHL with the Brandon Wheat Kings with 44 points in 60 games with 11 goals and 33 assists. He’s 19 and he’s made improvements to his game especially with his passing.

Those are your prospects to watch this season. Many will be on the Bears but few might make it to the Caps. It all depends on what happens in training camp.