Ryan Leonard has yet to match the offensive output he had in college hockey at Boston College.
The two-time 30-goal scorer in the NCAA has just one goal, an empty netter, through 18 combined NHL preseason, regular season, and playoff games.
According to Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery, the lack of production has been weighing on Leonard. Carbery spoke about the Capitals’ prized winger ahead of giving him a second preseason game against the New Jersey Devils.
“I think Lenny has been solid, I would say,” Carbery said Saturday. “I know the finish and the scoring and the offensive stuff – I’m trying to steer him away from that stuff. I get it. That comes with being a highly-touted Hobey Baker finalist, with all the accolades and what he’s done. You expect production, and that’s not what I’m expecting and hoping. There’s things inside of his game that I want to try to help him ingrain these habits.”
Carbery’s more personal approach with Leonard, aimed at alleviating some pressure from the rookie, comes just a few days after an EA Sports NHL 26 simulation predicted he would win two Hart Trophies and score over 600 career goals. An incredulous Leonard joked that he’s “got enough s*** already” about the viral social media posts.
Leonard would have notched a point last Thursday in Hershey against the Philadelphia Flyers, but had an assist stolen from him by the on-ice officials who missed a Vincent Iorio goal during the third period. The Massachusetts native slid a pass to Iorio, who roofed the puck behind goaltender Alexei Kolosov.
“He wants to produce like Macklin Celebrini,” Carbery said. “I know that’s a high comparison, but it’s no different, right? All these guys, whether they’re a power forward like Tom Wilson or they’re a smooth, skilled, skating (player) – they want to produce. They want to score. They want to help the team win production-wise. And so that’s where I’m working with him on trying not to measure his game by goals and assists or by the box score solely.”
Instead of trying to be someone else, Carbery would rather have the former eighth overall draft pick lean more into being himself: one of the most unique young physical players in the league.
“One thing that I’ll draw you to is Ryan Leonard, different than a lot of guys that come out of major junior, even college, that are point producers,” Carbery said. “There’s a lot of guys that get a lot of accolades that are what I would call very highly-skilled but also very perimeter players. What I mean by that is they’ve got the hands, they’ve got the skating, they’ve got the toe drags, and they’re phenomenal.
“Leno’s different than that. Leno, and why he’s going to have a long successful NHL career, is he has that but he also has this physicality, this power forward, this guy that’s going to finish checks, that’s going to go to the net front, that’s going to win puck battles, that’s going to take a puck hard to the net, and he can shoot it. It’s harder at the NHL level because now to do that, to be a power forward, to be Matthew Tkachuk, to be Tom Wilson, you’re going up against 6’4″, 250-pound, 30-year-old men. And so for him, it’s going to take time growing into that, for him to develop and be able to control those spaces and be able to hang in those [areas].”
With Leonard being waivers-exempt and early in his entry-level contract with the Capitals, the team’s top brass will need to consider whether they can afford to give Leonard time to develop at the NHL level. There are other players on the roster, such as Sonny Milano and Hendrix Lapierre, who have come out firing to begin training camp and must be put on waivers to be sent down to the Hershey Bears — something that carries risk due to the likelihood of them being claimed.
“He needs to continue to push the envelope and play well in these last games that he gets,” Carbery said.
Sunday afternoon’s matchup with the Devils will provide Leonard with his best chance yet to impress this fall, as he’s set to line up on the Capitals’ top line with Aliaskei Protas and his current housemate, Pierre-Luc Dubois. The two 60-point forwards from last season are play drivers and will likely give Leonard an opportunity to showcase his game.
“I’m not giving him an out on this,” Carbery said. “We want him to push the envelope and get there as quickly as he possibly can. But I also want to make sure that everyone knows the role that he’s going to be successful at in the NHL is a lot different than some guys coming into the league that are running the half-wall on the power play and throwing sauce through the box and going one-on-one toe drag.”
