Ivan Miroshnichenko is preparing for his second season in North America after a successful 2023-24 campaign saw him make his NHL debut, score his first NHL goal, and eventually win the 2024 Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears.
The 20-year-old forward is expected to compete for a roster spot with the Washington Capitals during training camp but is just as likely to start next season back in the AHL with the Bears. The primary goal for Washington is to ensure that Miroshnichenko is in the best environment to continue his development.
“We would like to see ‘Miro’ become a quality, well-rounded player but also someone that can produce in the NHL and can be a potential 25-30 goal scorer,” head coach Spencer Carbery told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. “So you want to make sure we’re taking the necessary steps to enable that inside of him, and not putting him in a scenario where he’s playing 10 minutes and playing on the fourth line.”
Miroshnichenko got into 21 total games with the Capitals last year, amassing six points (2g, 4a). The vast majority of those games (17) came during his second recall, a little more than the month remaining in the regular season. He even received some time on the team’s top line, playing with his idol Alex Ovechkin.
However, the young Russian eventually became a regular healthy scratch for the final few weeks of the season and only got into one of the club’s first-round playoff games against the New York Rangers. He then made his way down to Hershey and became an integral part of the Bears’ run to repeat as AHL champions.
Washington has only further added to their depth this summer after playing most of last season shorthanded due to long-term injuries to Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie as well as the stint Evgeny Kuznetsov spent in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program. Forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois, Andrew Mangiapane, Brandon Duhaime, and Taylor Raddysh were all added in free agency.
Miroshnichenko will also be in direct competition with Jakub Vrana, who will be in camp on a professional tryout agreement, as well as fellow hopeful AHL graduates like Hendrix Lapierre, Ethen Frank, Bogdan Trineyev, and Riley Sutter. Capitals general manager Chris Patrick is also expecting a good showing from other top prospects in the organization, including Andrew Cristall.
“I think [Cristall] is going to continue getting better, so I’m really curious to see how he looks at training camp this year, his second camp,” Patrick said. “He’s a guy that he either has to be in Washington or be back in junior, so I’d love to see him make it hard on Spencer and his staff to have to send him back.”
Miroshnichenko returning to Hershey would pair him again with one of the AHL’s greatest coaches of all time, Todd Nelson. The crafty winger put up 25 points (9g, 16a) in 47 regular season games and then chipped in an additional 12 points (7g, 5a) in 20 playoff games under Nelson last year.
