The top Washington Capitals prospects to watch in Calder Cup
Although the Washington Capitals missed the playoffs for the first time in nine years, the Hershey Bears have captivated us this spring as we are seeing future Caps shine on the big stage. Now that stage just got bigger as the Bears are in the Calder Cup Finals for the first time since 2016.
The Bears are chasing their franchises 12th Calder Cup and it marks their 24th all time appearance in the finals.
Game 1 is TONIGHT at 10 p.m. eastern as the Bears travel to take on the Coachella Valley Firebirds who are affiliated with the Seattle Kraken. NBC Sports Washington will show the game.
Here are the top 3 Caps prospects to keep an eye on tonight and throughout the best of seven series.
#3 Joe Snively
Joe Snively could be a dark horse to make the training camp roster as a third line or fourth line left wing depending on how the Caps shake up their forwards this summer.
It always makes a good story when you’re the kid who signed with your hometown team and that’s exactly the case with Snively as he’s from Herndon, VA.
This spring he has one goal and nine assists for 10 points. His 10 points are tied for second on the team with Sam Anas just two points behind who we’re going to talk about next.
#2 Aliaksei Protas
Nicknamed The Viper for his size and better athletic ability than Anthony Mantha, Aliaksei Protas would always contribute to the Caps when he was in the lineup and now he’s doing exactly that for the Hershey Bears.
Protas leads the Bears in goals and points with five goals and seven assists for 12 points. That’s the best in playoff scoring.
In fact his five playoff goals are more goals than he had in 58 NHL regular season games with the Washington Capitals. He had four as well as 11 assists for 15 points.
Protas should see a bigger role this summer unless the Caps spend a lot of money in free agency on some kind of young stud that’s available on the market.
He’s more athletic than Mantha and more importantly when Protas drives to the net he knows how to finish.
#1 Connor McMichael
If there’s a favorite to make the roster and center the third line next season look no further than Connor McMichael. It’s now basically his job to lose.
In the playoffs McMichael has done well. In fact he had a pretty good season in Hershey and the Caps made the right call sending him down to the AHL when they realized Peter Laviolette wasn’t going to play him.
This spring McMichael has four goals and three assists for seven points after a successful regular season that saw him score 16 goals and 23 assists for 39 points.
The Bears opponents in the Calder Cup Finals are the Coachella Valley Firebirds which is the AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken. They are a cool team name and they had just finished up their first ever regular season.
Makes sense it’s kind of hard to have a minor league team in your first year.
light. Related Story. Five years ago the Capitals did it, lets do it again
Anyway I’ll see you guys tonight. Puck drop for Game 1 is at 10 p.m. on NBC Sports Washington.