HERSHEY, Pa. — Andrew Cristall never stops smiling.
The Washington Capitals prospect always has a grin on his face, whether he’s racking up 111 points — in just 62 games — with the Kelowna Rockets, skating in practice with the Hershey Bears as a black ace during Hershey’s American Hockey League playoff run or working through hours of drills with Barb Aidelbaum, his skating coach back home in Vancouver.
The Capitals selected the 19-year-old winger with the [No. 40 overall pick in the 2023 draft](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/06/29/capitals-andrew-cristall-nhl-draft/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5), taking a swing on Cristall’s high-end puck skills while calculating that his skating, which had widely been considered a weakness by scouts and evaluators, would improve. Washington was willing to trade up to snag Cristall, but ultimately didn’t need to.
“I really thought that he probably had a chance to go more in that 22 to kind of 30 range in the first round, so we were really happy,” assistant general manager Ross Mahoney said afterward. “I guess all the teams probably say that, but we were really happy to get him there. … He’s not the biggest guy and obviously needs to, like a lot of guys his age, get stronger. Do a lot of work in the gym to get himself a little bit stronger on his skates, but really, really bright player.”
I really think we have a bright future with these prospects. As soon as Ovi, Oshie, Carlson, and Backy retire we will have an interesting opportunity to swing big in FA with some great young pieces (Leonard, Lapierre, McMichael, Cristall, Miro). We definitely need to figure out the defense though.
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HERSHEY, Pa. — Andrew Cristall never stops smiling.
The Washington Capitals prospect always has a grin on his face, whether he’s racking up 111 points — in just 62 games — with the Kelowna Rockets, skating in practice with the Hershey Bears as a black ace during Hershey’s American Hockey League playoff run or working through hours of drills with Barb Aidelbaum, his skating coach back home in Vancouver.
The Capitals selected the 19-year-old winger with the [No. 40 overall pick in the 2023 draft](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/06/29/capitals-andrew-cristall-nhl-draft/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5), taking a swing on Cristall’s high-end puck skills while calculating that his skating, which had widely been considered a weakness by scouts and evaluators, would improve. Washington was willing to trade up to snag Cristall, but ultimately didn’t need to.
“I really thought that he probably had a chance to go more in that 22 to kind of 30 range in the first round, so we were really happy,” assistant general manager Ross Mahoney said afterward. “I guess all the teams probably say that, but we were really happy to get him there. … He’s not the biggest guy and obviously needs to, like a lot of guys his age, get stronger. Do a lot of work in the gym to get himself a little bit stronger on his skates, but really, really bright player.”
Read more here: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/05/24/andrew-cristall-capitals-future/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/05/24/andrew-cristall-capitals-future/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)
I really think we have a bright future with these prospects. As soon as Ovi, Oshie, Carlson, and Backy retire we will have an interesting opportunity to swing big in FA with some great young pieces (Leonard, Lapierre, McMichael, Cristall, Miro). We definitely need to figure out the defense though.