Alex Suzdalev is headed to North Charleston after the Washington Capitals re-assigned the prospect winger to the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays on Thursday.
Suzdalev had been with the AHL’s Hershey Bears since the start of Training Camp, playing his first game with the club last Saturday.
Forward Alex Suzdalev has been re-assigned by the @Capitals from @TheHersheyBears to South Carolina.
🗞️ https://t.co/eQQKgFlMM6 pic.twitter.com/wtAFonrjWx
— South Carolina Stingrays (@SCStingrays) October 31, 2024
Suzdalev had been a healthy scratch for Todd Nelson’s Bears for the first six games of the season before getting a sweater against the Springfield Thunderbirds. Nelson said in the preseason that the prospects on the club’s roster would not get guaranteed minutes this year without earning them.
In his professional North American debut, the 20-year-old winger finished with a minus-1 with two penalty minutes. He skated on Hershey’s fourth line with Riley Sutter and Ryan Hofer.
The Capitals drafted Suzdalev in the third round of the 2022 NHL Draft. He initially made the Bears out of Training Camp last season but never saw any game action before being loaned to Mora IK of the second tier in Sweden. After just 13 games there, the Russian-born, Swedish-raised forward returned to North America, finishing the 2023-24 campaign with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades.
South Carolina is 2-1 to start the season. Suzdalev could make his ECHL debut with the Stingrays on Friday against the Florida Everblades.
Here’s the press release from the Bears:
ALEX SUZDALEV RE-ASSIGNED TO SOUTH CAROLINA
Rookie forward made his AHL debut on Oct. 26 at Springfield
(Hershey, PA – Oct. 31, 2024) – The Washington Capitals, the National Hockey League affiliate of the Hershey Bears, announced today that they have re-assigned forward Alex Suzdalev from Hershey to the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL. The announcement was made by Washington senior vice president and general manager Chris Patrick.
Suzdalev, 20, has played in one game with the Bears this season, making his North American professional debut in Hershey’s 6-2 win at Springfield on Oct. 26, accruing two penalty minutes.
During the 2023-24 campaign, Suzdalev began the season with Hershey but did earn a sweater through the first 11 games before being re-assigned to Mora IK of HockeyAllsvenskan (Sweden-2) on Nov. 7, where he registered three points (2g, 1a) in 13 games. He was then re-assigned by Washington to the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League (WHL) on Jan. 4, where he recorded 25 points (9g, 16a) in 30 games. The 6’2”, 180-pound forward finished seventh in postseason scoring with Saskatoon with 13 points (4g, 9a) in 16 WHL playoff games.
The Capitals selected Suzdalev with the 70th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, and signed him to a three-year entry-level contract on July 15, 2022.
