The 2023 season of Da Beauty League is underway in Edina, Minnesota and the Capitals are being represented by defense prospect and Minnesota Golden Gopher Ryan Chesley. Chesley joins a whole host of NHLers, college players, and pros in the summer league played at Braemar Arena.

Chesley is playing for Team TRIA who are the defending champs of the league. Several other participants in the games have ties to the Caps, including defender Benton Maass who played last season for the Hershey Bears and South Carolina Stingrays.

Chesley was a recent attendee of this year’s Capitals Development Camp after playing 36 games during his freshman season at Minnesota. The Caps drafted Chesley in the 2022 draft’s second round (37th overall) out of the US National Development Team Program.

He’ll be joined on TRIA by Minnesota alumni and former Caps Nate Schmidt and Travis Boyd. Schmidt is coming off his second season with the Winnipeg Jets and Boyd the same with the Arizona Coyotes. Schmidt lifted the John Scott Cup, which is a beer keg spray painted as a trophy with TRIA last year.

Maass, who is currently without a contract for next season after his one-year AHL deal expired, is a member of Team Element. The 24-year-old blueliner was selected by the Caps in the sixth round of the 2017 draft from the NAHL’s Fairbanks Ice Dogs.

He’ll be joined by the last player with Caps ties in the league, Dennis Cholowski. Cholowski played seven games for the Caps during the 2021-22 campaign after being plucked off of waivers from the Seattle Kraken. Cholowski was eventually waived by the Caps and returned to Seattle. He signed a two-year, two-way contract with the New York Islanders last summer.

Da Beauty League was founded in 2015 and is a very popular offseason league for players looking to stay in shape before the fall. All money earned from the action is donated to hockey non-profits.

Headline photo: Ian Oland/RMNB