The Washington Capitals will need their young players to step up in the next few years. Here’s a look at their top 10 prospects entering the 2019-20 season.
Years of contending have not been kind to the Washington Capitals prospect pipeline. It’s hard to build a strong prospect pool when you consistently draft in the later portions of each round and when you trade picks for rentals.
The 2019 NHL Draft saw the Capitals add quite a bit of talent to their pipeline. In the coming seasons, their prospects will determine how much longer the Caps can remain Stanley Cup contenders. They’ve been in that category for the better part of the past 12 years. If the Capitals prospects step up, the team could remain in that category.
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Last summer, the Caps had arguably the worst prospect pool in the NHL. This season, thanks to an aggressive approach to the draft, suddenly, the Capitals are out of the bottom. Though they’re still close to the bottom, it’s an improvement nonetheless.
First of all, let’s define what a prospect is. Everyone has a different definition for what a prospect is, but mine is fairly simple. For me, a prospect is any player who fits the following criteria.
- Must be younger than 25 years old as of Oct. 1, 2019
- Must have played less than 30 games in each NHL season
- Cannot have played more than 40 NHL games in any two consecutive seasons
Let me give some examples. Though Jakub Vrana is under 25 years old, he is not a prospect because he played in over 30 NHL games last season. Travis Boyd is not a prospect because he is over 25 years old.
While the Capitals are a bit lacking in impact players in their pipeline, I believe they have quite a few players who could be contributors at the NHL level. Let’s take a look at their top 10 prospects.