Ryan Leonard declared his intention to return for his sophomore season at Boston College in mid-April but admits he was very close to signing on with the Washington Capitals this past spring after being surprised by Brian MacLellan with a contract offer.
Leonard, 19, is in the midst of his second Capitals Development Camp after they made him the eighth overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. He chatted with media on Wednesday for the first time since those closest to him helped him choose to stick with the Eagles for another year.
“[I leaned on] my agent, my family, and then the one that mattered the most is my brother,” Leonard said. “That night when it happened, I didn’t go to sleep til probably 3 or 4 in the morning, and I had class the next day. I just had no idea what to do. We talked on the phone, we made lists – pros and cons of everything. I think I had to say I leaned on him the most.”
Leonard’s older brother, John Leonard, has first-hand knowledge of the entire process. The San Jose Sharks drafted John in 2018 after his freshman NCAA campaign with the University of Massachusetts. He returned to school for his sophomore and junior seasons before signing on to play for the Sharks.
The elder Leonard was a sixth-round draft choice though, much less-hyped than his younger brother. The Capitals’ guarantee for Ryan to get immediate NHL experience made him go back and forth on his commitment to BC.
“Yeah, I have to say it was [a harder decision than I expected],” Leonard said. “My whole plan the whole time was two years and then come here, but I had no idea they were actually going to offer me (a contract). I thought, like, that was the plan from the start that I set last year. But it all happened so fast.
“I don’t really know if I was completely prepared for it. I thought we were jumping on a Zoom call to just kind of reassess the situation just to see what was actually happening, but I didn’t know it was actually real.”
MacLellan gave his perspective on the meeting when asked about the call after Wednesday’s Development Camp session.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s– we gave him the option,” MacLellan said. “I mean, I thought it was — he had a great year. I thought the timing would have been good on our part: going into the playoffs, we were missing some bodies.
“Talked to his agent and we set up a Zoom call and just talked through it. There was no pressure to sign. We just gave him the option: if you want to, we were more than willing to do it, and if you don’t — you can’t make a wrong decision here. So it was good. I think we perked his interest. He went through his process and decided to stay another year.”
Washington approached Leonard to sign an entry-level NHL contract right before their first-round postseason matchup with the New York Rangers. Leonard says the main conversation occurred the day after the Capitals secured a playoff spot with a win in their final game over the Philadelphia Flyers.
“I think it was the next day after they won,” Leonard said. “Yeah, it was, because I was watching that game pretty carefully.”
Leonard ended his first season in the NCAA with 60 points (31g, 29a) from 40 games, scoring the third most goals in the country. His 31 tallies set a new all-time school record for most goals scored by a freshman. The previous record (30) had been held by Brian Gionta since 1998.
One of the main things fueling his return to college is team success and unfinished business in the NCAA Tournament. The Capitals offered the young winger his NHL deal just four days after he and the rest of the Eagles fell to the Denver Pioneers in the 2024 National Championship.
Boston College is expected to be the favorite again in 2025. The projected number-one overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, James Hagens, will likely play on a line with Leonard.
“I’ve already played at the highest level possible for college,” Leonard said. “Now it’s just about winning. We came up one game short, and that’s why most of us are going back for another year to try to get that program back to where it should be. Hopefully, it’ll go the other way the next time.”
Leonard’s long-time linemate, center Will Smith, is not going back for another run at the National Title as he signed an entry-level contract with the Sharks in late May. Many believed that Smith’s decision would lead to Leonard reconsidering a deal with the Capitals but he rebuffed that idea.
“No, I’m myself,” Leonard said. “He’s him. You want the best for him, and it’s not about individuals. It’s about the team, and I want to be a part of the team that wins Boston College another National Championship.
“I talked to a lot of people about this. College is the best time of your life. A lot of people that go one and done, 10 years down the road say they regret it. After I made my initial statement of saying I was going to stay, I met Kevin Hayes before I went to Men’s Worlds, and he told me right away, he goes, ‘Dude, if I was in your position, I would stay here as long as you can.’ That kind of went a long way.”
Hayes spent four years in the NCAA with BC before becoming a coveted college free agent, signing with the New York Rangers. In doing so, he spurned the Chicago Blackhawks who had drafted him in the first round of the 2010 NHL Draft.
The former NHL All-Star was in the news last season when it was suggested that he was the reason Boston College’s Cutter Gauthier refused to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers and ended up being traded to the Anaheim Ducks. Hayes refutes that claim and Leonard, unlike Gauthier, doesn’t sound like he has any intention of playing for any other NHL team than the one that drafted him.
“It’s a winning culture here, and that’s obviously what you want to be a part of,” Leonard said. “You saw the other day with free agency. They’re looking for top-end guys that can help win championships, and that’s what I’m here to try to do at some point.
“Hopefully I can get the program back to 2018 when they won. You want to be a part of as (many) championships as you can be a part of, but at the end of the day, you’re not going to win every year, so you’ve got to take positives from each year and work with them to get you ready for the next season.”
