NASHVILLE — Had the NHL Draft gone the way the Capitals expected, neither of the players they drafted in the first two rounds would have been available to them at No. 8 and 40.
However, a handful of surprise picks in front of them changed the landscape of the draft, putting the Capitals in a position to select two forwards they had assigned first-round grades. Washington selected Ryan Leonard, a product of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, at eighth overall before taking WHL standout Andrew Cristall early in the second round.
“You could’ve asked me, ‘Were you gonna get Leonard and Cristall with your first two picks?’ I probably would’ve said, ‘No, I don’t think so. Hopefully we get one of those,’” Capitals assistant GM Ross Mahoney said following the draft Thursday. “I think we got really good value.”
Mock drafts had Leonard going as high as fifth overall and Cristall routinely found his name somewhere in the back half of the first round. In Leonard, the Capitals saw a physical player who excels on both ends of the ice. Cristall has just as high an offensive ceiling as one of the best pure playmakers in the draft.
Both players immediately became two of the best prospects in the Capitals’ organization. They will each need a few years of development before they’ll be considered at the NHL level, but their skills on the offensive end give them both top-six potential.
This year’s draft provided the Capitals with a rare opportunity to pick higher in the draft than their typical range and they used it to take big swings.
“Those first two picks are high-level picks so we’re excited,” GM Brian MacLellan said. “Your prospect pool just grows and you’re getting higher-end prospects when you’re picking higher up so you should be.”
MacLellan said that the Capitals spoke with a couple of teams about moving up in their first round. They considered jumping up from No. 8 and trading back into the first round with plans to select Cristall. Yet no deal ever materialized — “seemed like everybody had their guy they wanted to get” — and the Capitals ended up landing Cristall anyway.
After scouting the two players for years, the Capitals will get their first look at them in team-organized drills this weekend when they report for Development Camp on Friday. If all goes according to plan, they could end up being key players on their NHL roster. For now, the Capitals are just pleased the draft shook out their way.