The Washington Capitals made a big decision with rookie forward Ivan Miroshnichenko on Saturday night in Vancouver.
With the young Russian dressing against the Canucks and playing in his 10th NHL game this season, the Capitals have used the first year on the three-year, entry-level contract that he signed last May. Per the entry-level slide rule, his contract clock has officially started and will not slide to next year.
Ivan Miroshnichenko #ALLCAPS has now played 9 NHL games.
If he plays 1 more NHL game this season, he will lose his slide eligibility and his ELC will officially begin – "burning" the first year.
10 other players have already hit the 10 game mark:https://t.co/eBIfj1otfm
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) March 15, 2024
The rule is as followed per Cap Friendly:
If a player who is signed to an entry-level contract and is 18 or 19 years of age (as of September 15 of the signing year), does not play in a minimum of 10 NHL games (including both regular season and playoffs; AHL games do not count), their contract is considered to ‘slide’, or extend, by one year. For example, if a player signed an ELC for three seasons from 2015-16 to 2017-2018, and their contract slides, their contract is now effective from 2016-17 to 2018-19.
Miroshnichenko has been impressive in his recent outings, grabbing his second NHL goal against the Edmonton Oilers during the second game of the team’s current road trip. He has 10 total shots on goal in his recent five-game stint in the big leagues.
In a paper move, the Capitals sent Miro to Hershey on the NHL’s trade deadline day, so he is eligible to participate in the AHL’s postseason. However, the plan, according to general manager Brian MacLellan, was to return the rookie forward to the AHL before those playoffs.
“I would anticipate he gets some games and he’ll be back and forth over the rest of the year,” MacLellan said recently.
The Capitals are currently carrying two extra forwards on their roster so it would appear that Miro has worked his way into the Capitals’ current plans with his positive play. He has kept veteran forwards Nicolas-Aube Kubel and Mike Sgarbossa out of consecutive games.
Miroshnichenko is skating on the team’s second line with Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson. He is averaging almost 13 minutes of ice time per game in March.
