HERSHEY, PA — The Washington Capitals lack speed (below 50th percentile) and scoring (30th in NHL). Up in Hershey, they have a player that fits that bill immediately: Ethen Frank.
The 26-year-old right wing is in the midst of his second full season with the Capitals’ AHL affiliate. After leading Hershey in goals with 30 as a rookie in 2022-23 and inking his first NHL contract, Frank has scored 21 times in the team’s first 47 games of 2023-24, second only to offseason signing Pierrick Dube (24), who got his first career NHL promotion on Wednesday.
Frank, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound forward, leads the Bears in power-play goals (10); a mark buoyed by several huge one-timers from Ovi’s office in the left circle.
He added even more to his accolades at the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic, winning the league’s Fastest Skater competition for the second-straight year and beating Connor McDavid’s time by nearly four-tenths of a second.
Despite the Capitals seeing forwards like Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, TJ Oshie, Sonny Milano, Max Pacioretty, and Nic Dowd miss extended time this season, Frank has not gotten the call to make his NHL debut yet.
“He’s doing all the right things,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said earlier this month when asked what Frank needs to do to get consideration in Washington. “We’ve been keeping a close eye on him. I talked to (Hershey Bears head coach) Todd (Nelson) actually about him specifically.”
He continued, “It’s hard to say exactly from an NHL head coach perspective, ‘Here’s what we need to see of you in the American League,’ but I would just say what he’s done this year, again, and what he’s doing is catching the organization’s attention. I know it hasn’t resulted in a call-up yet and I don’t know when or if that comes to fruition, but the things he’s doing aren’t going unnoticed.”
Carbery reiterated his praise for Frank’s season on Wednesday after Dubé’s recall, highlighting Frank as one of several Bears who had earned a shot at NHL time.
“Dubé, [Alex] Limoges, Ethen Frank all had real good camps and had tremendous years…[Clay] Stevenson, Lappy (Hendrix Lapierre),” he said. “You go down the list. I mean, it’s hard not to when a team is doing as well as Hershey is.
“There’s a lot of guys, especially guys that are, I don’t like to use the word ‘veteran,’ because they’re two, three, four years into their careers. They’re still young pros, but those are the type — like the Limoges of the world, Ethen Frank, in that third year where they’re really sort of hitting their stride–or second year for Frank. So a lot of guys deserving.”
Frank has spent most of the last two seasons skating on the Bears’ first line with accomplished minor league veterans Mike Sgarbossa and Mike Vecchione, earning their respect quickly. Sgarbossa, currently up with the Capitals, has played 72 career NHL games while Vecchione, once a Hobey Baker finalist in college, has scored 15 or more goals in all six of his full seasons in the AHL and tallied Hershey’s Calder Cup-winning goal in overtime of Game Seven of the Calder Cup Finals. Despite skating with two players of that magnitude as an undrafted free agent, Frank did not change his style of play to fit in.
“The thing that really separates him is his knowledge of the game,” Vecchione said. “He’s always asking questions and staying after to figure out, as a line, what we want to do better, what we’re trying to accomplish, what spots are open, and all that stuff. Aside from his amazing shot and his unbelievable speed, he’s got a really good head on his shoulders. He’s humble, he’s confident in his game, and he’s always willing to learn more. He just has that drive which is very rare. You know he’s just a great kid.”
“The underlying thing is just how hard he works away from the rink and the mindset that he puts into perfecting himself,” added Sgarbossa. “His body, his skating, his shot, his play. I think that’s something above all else that is creating a lot of offense and a lot of good play from him. He’s been a great linemate, positive guy. Quieter, but sticks to his game and doesn’t get rattled.”
Fresh off winning a Calder Cup championship his rookie year, Frank attended his second Training Camp with the Capitals in the fall, observing legends like Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom — an experience he called “awesome” and “really cool.” Frank stuck around until October 1, when he was one of 15 players cut from the roster. He played two preseason games for the Capitals, tallying an assist and putting seven shots on goal.
“I learned a lot of things,” Frank said. “Their system was relatively new. I didn’t get a whole lot of chances last year to learn their system and stuff like that. So, it was good to see how they like to operate things up there. Carbs is a very intense coach, but he’s also a really personable coach. I’ve had a few like that in the past, and they’re great to have behind you and supporting you and helping lead the way.”
Frank had a slow start to the 2023-24 AHL season, at least by his lofty standards, scoring only five goals and tallying eight points in his first 14 games of the season. He went goalless in 11 of those games and in that span, he had a six-game goalless streak. Frank then caught fire in December, notching a hat trick in a 5-2 victory over the Charlotte Checkers and notching six goals in a six-game stretch in January.
The quick turnaround may have benefitted from a change of equipment. Frank’s comfort level increased when he switched from CCM to Bauer sticks, beginning in earnest around the start of November. The AHL, as a league, has an exclusive equipment deal with CCM, where only a few select players with an exemption can use a different brand.
Each team’s equipment manager determines who gets the exemption, working it out with players. Frank had wanted to use Bauer’s twigs last year, but his rookie status meant Sam Anas ultimately got the exemption for his Warrior sticks instead. This year, the Bears had fewer requests for an exemption, so Frank was able to get one alongside Sgarbossa (Bauer) and team captain Dylan McIlrath (Warrior).
“I’ve always used Bauer,” Frank said. “Can’t remember any piece of equipment that my parents have bought that was CCM. We’ve been Bauer ever since I started playing ice. Last year, obviously being a first-year guy, didn’t have a chance for the exemption, so just had to deal with the punches there and thankfully it worked out pretty well. Nothing really against CCM, I just like the way Bauer feels a lot more and I’m very lucky this year to be able to use Bauer.”
Frank said he uses a P14 curve (better known as the “Toews” curve) with a max height blade. He has griptac on the sticks and adds a lot of wax. The curve, according to Hockey Stick Man, is “a small blade with a mid-toe curve and an open face, with a fairly squared toe.”
While Frank has found success scoring and putting up points at the AHL level, he still has things to work on and another level to reach. The organization would like to see him become more of a versatile player and master the details of the game — a message delivered to him during his exit meeting with the Capitals.
“Ethen Frank and Ivan Miroshnichenko fall in the same category – they’re both offensively gifted, they both can shoot the puck hard,” Bears’ head coach Todd Nelson, the tenth-winningest coach in AHL history, said. “Frank has tremendous speed, Miroshnichenko gets there. I think consistency is the big thing and their play away from the puck. It has to be more detailed.
“You might get away in the American Hockey League being in the wrong spot by five or six feet, but in the National Hockey League you can’t. It’s too quick of a game up there and guys are smart. You got to make sure that you play very detailed without the puck. That’s why they’re here. They’re both young guys. Sometimes people are in such a rush to get these guys to the National Hockey League because of where they’re drafted or what they did the season prior but there’s still a lot of work to be done with a lot of these young guys.”
Those messages have not been lost on Frank, who took the guidance to heart this season.
“Obviously, I like playing offense, but I definitely want to round out my game a little bit more without the puck on the defensive side of things,” Frank said. “I’m working on my game along the wall and things in the D zone. It will help translate to the offensive zone.”
Frank has missed the last two weeks recovering from a lower-body injury but should soon make his return to the lineup. As the Capitals near the NHL trade deadline, his services may soon be required in Washington.
For now, however, he’s just rolling with the punches, hoping for the best.
“If that call-up comes, I hope to be ready for it,” Frank said.
