Washington Capitals defense prospect Tobias Geisser is headed to Finland to play for Switzerland at the 2022 IIHF World Championship. The 2017 fourth-round draft selection spent the entire 2021-22 season with the Hershey Bears in the AHL after playing the majority of his hockey in the Swiss League prior.
He scored his first North American professional goal in late December and ended up with 13 total points in 68 games played. This will be his second World Championship tournament after he played in the 2021 version in Latvia.
Capitals prospect Tobias Geisser will represent Switzerland at the 2022 IIHF World Championship.https://t.co/9QmYAQzZrw
— x – Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 12, 2022
Geisser is eligible to go over and play for his country due to the Bears’ early exit from this year’s Calder Cup Playoffs. The Swiss defensemen played in all three games of their first-round series against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and recorded one assist.
Prior to representing Switzerland at the top level, Geisser had an extensive international junior career dating back to when he was just 15-years-old. During the 2017-18 season, he was part of the Swiss team at the World Junior Championship that exited in the Quarterfinals with a loss to Canada. He made the team again for the 2019 version of the world’s best junior tournament but missed out due to injury.
Team Switzerland for the #IIHFWorlds 2022! 💪 🇨🇭
L'équipe de la Suisse pour les Mondiaux 2022, la squadra svizzera per i Mondiali 2022! 🙌Tobias Geisser und Philipp Kurashev stossen neu dazu, Frick und Eggenberger müssen das Team verlassen.
Danke Lukas + Nando für alles! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/lEJ87Rxs28— Swiss Ice Hockey (@SwissIceHockey) May 12, 2022
If the Capitals are eliminated for the fourth-straight season in the first round of the playoffs, more members of the roster may join Geisser in Finland.
Here’s the release from the Caps:
Tobias Geisser to Represent Switzerland at IIHF World Championship
ARLINGTON, Va. – Washington Capitals prospect Tobias Geisser will represent Switzerland at the 2022 IIHF World Championship, senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today.
The 6’5”, 217-pound defenseman recorded 13 points (3g, 10a) in 68 games with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL) this season. Geisser, 23, recorded AHL career highs in goals, assists and points in 2021-22 and ranked second among Hershey defensemen in plus/minus (8) and tied for second in games played (68). The Stans, Switzerland, native appeared in all three games of Hershey’s First Round Calder Cup Playoffs series, recording one assist.
In 116 career AHL games with Hershey, Geisser has recorded 14 points (3g, 11a).
Geisser spent the 2020-21 season on loan to EV Zug of the National League (Switzerland), where he recorded 22 points (5g, 17a) in 50 games. Geisser ranked third among the team’s defensemen in goals and points and tied for second in assists in 2020-21. Geisser also represented Switzerland at the 2021 IIHF World Championship, appearing in six games.
The Capitals selected Geisser with their fourth-round pick, 120th overall, in the 2017 NHL Draft.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong
