Ivan Miroshnichenko has grown leaps and bounds during his first professional season in North America. Though it hasn’t been easy.
The 20-year-old Russian arrived in DC early for Capitals Development Camp with little to no grasp of the English language. But slowly but surely throughout the season, he’s made progress as he’s worked with an English tutor near Hershey and continued to put himself out there.
Alex Ovechkin, who went through a similar transition his rookie year, showed empathy towards his young teammate, but believes Miroshnichenko will look back fondly at his progress in future years.
“He start talking with the guys, ask some questions,” Ovechkin revealed Wednesday. “Of course, it’s hard for him but sometimes you have to take the barrier off of yourself. I was the same, my English was terrible. I had some difficult questions but it was fun time. I’m pretty sure he’s going to remember that.”
The Great Eight has been open in the past about his own struggles adapting to the United States. When he initially came over in 2005, he struggled and felt awkward at times.
“It was kind of weird because I stay in hotel,” Ovechkin said in ESPN’s GR8TNESS documentary last year. “It was kind of weird room. It was not first floor or second floor, it was (the basement). Like I was kind of in jail.
“No English, don’t understand English language,” he added. “No TV. And I only have small window. So I’m sitting there (saying to myself), ‘What am I doing here?’”
Eventually, Ovechkin would move in with then-Capitals general manager George McPhee and the rest of the McPhee family, helping him acclimate with more support.
“For me, I would learn English a little bit quicker,” Ovechkin told Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek in 2019. “Because sometimes with the company, you go out with the guys for dinner, you can’t even say something. It was kind of hard but nothing you can change. I’m from different country, all my life talk in one language, and then I came and I have to change my language. It was hard.
“I want to be friends with everybody. I want to understand the jokes, understand what’s happening in the conversation. Sometimes I was with [Dainius Zubrus] and Brian Willsie was my roommate and all we do talking and I don’t understand him and he don’t understand me. He was patient and he gave me some advice. He taught me a lot. I was like a little boy with big parents around me.”
Miroshnichenko is going through those same growing pains – though Ovechkin’s creative pronunciations in English can sometimes be a challenge.
Before the Capitals’ game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, the following interaction happened.
Alex Ovechkin begins his usual pregame tunnel routine: “Bahb” [He is mispronouncing the word ‘babe.’]
John Carlson turns to Miro and teases him: “What is bahb? What does it mean? Bahb?”
Carlson then turns to Tom Wilson: “Did I tell you that? Miro comes up to me in wakey wakey’s today. He goes, ‘What is bahb?’ I’m like ‘Bob?’ ‘No, what is bahb?’ ‘You mean babe?’
The 20-year-old Miroshnichenko could be seen on the side sheepishly laughing and smiling.
Ovechkin, who served as Miroshnichenko’s media interpreter during the preseason, has further taken the youngster under his wing. Miroshnichenko not only uses Ovechkin’s sticks but he has also tagged along to off-ice training sessions, dinners, and other events with his NHL legend idol.
The future Hall of Famer couldn’t help but smile and crack a joke when asked about how he thinks his protege is adjusting to the big leagues.
“He’s learning a lot,” Ovechkin said. “He use my sticks so it’s good.”
Miroshnichenko’s curious nature has only grown as his English continues to improve through months of tutoring and being around native-speaking teammates. His teammates have noticed him coming out of his shell more which has helped him establish a place in the team’s locker room and head coach Spencer Carbery’s good book.
The jumpstarting of Miroshnichenko’s development is also not only helping the Capitals in the future but also with his play in the present. On the team’s five-game road against Western Conference opposition, they dominated with Miroshnichenko on the ice at five-on-five. The Capitals saw 50.1 percent of the shot attempts, 58.8 percent of the expected goals, and 55.8 percent of the scoring chances in the young winger’s minutes.
“I’ve been really impressed with him,” Carbery said Wednesday. “Not just on the ice and how he’s performed in games but for a 20-year-old to be as engaged as he is, trying to learn the systems, all the things he’s doing on the bench in these tight games we’ve been playing in. Even when he doesn’t play for maybe four or five minutes at the end of a game, he’s right into the game and engaged. For a young player coming over to North America playing in his first year over here – he’s been really, really impressive.”
Carbery has primarily had Miroshnichenko skating on the Capitals’ second line with leading scorer Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson. The team won all three games they played out west after the rookie bench boss put the trio together. The line is seeing 57.3 percent of the shot attempts, 69 percent of the expected goals, 65.4 percent of the scoring chances, and 59.1 percent of the high-danger chances when they jump over the boards at five-on-five.
They were together again at the outset of the Capitals’ matchup with the Maple Leafs although Miroshnichenko was eventually moved off of the line and matched up with Ovechkin and Connor McMichael. He recorded an assist on McMichael’s second-period tally.
