Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery changed all four of the Caps’ forward lines at practice on Monday. Arguably, the most notable update came as rookie winger Ryan Leonard was placed on a line with captain Alex Ovechkin for the first time since the 20-year-old joined the team last spring.
Leonard, who was eight months old when Ovechkin made his NHL debut in 2005, was asked about the possibility of playing with such a legendary player against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night. Connor McMichael would center the two wingers on the team’s de facto first line if the changes hold.
“It’s pretty cool,” Leonard said Monday. “So, obviously, we’ll see what happens tomorrow. But, yeah, if it happens, I won’t take it for granted.”
Playing with Ovechkin provides a unique challenge for any player, especially one as inexperienced and young as Leonard. However, the 2023 first-round pick sounds well aware of his first and foremost responsibility: get the big man the puck.
“He finds those spots,” Leonard said. “He’s always in the right areas to get the puck, and he always puts himself in a great spot to shoot. So, like I said, if it happens tomorrow, try to get him the puck, and go from there.”
Through nine games this season, Ovechkin has scored just two goals and tallied seven total points. He had seemingly been heating up until Dylan Strome was forced out of Saturday night’s game early with an injury, finishing a minus-2 with no points in the 7-1 defeat to the Ottawa Senators.
Leonard will come into the game against the Stars as the only player on the Capitals’ roster carrying a multi-game point streak. After notching the primary assist on Trevor van Riemsdyk’s goal against the Senators, Leonard has a point (2g, 2a) in each of his last four games.
Carbery hopes the top prospect’s blend of dynamic skill and hardworking nature will help push the top line towards success. The three got a brief trial run against the Senators, playing 2:33 of joint five-on-five ice time.
“[Leonard] has a great skill set,” Carbery said. “He’s got a ton of talent, can keep pucks alive, can get through the neutral zone with control, can do a lot of things offensively that can help a line. And it’s just a matter of with Leno as he continues to learn on the fly and develop on the fly in the NHL, a team that’s expecting to be productive every night, is just trying to learn from some of the positional stuff, some of the wall play stuff, and hopefully that continues to take steps in the right direction.”
Strome’s absence may also create more opportunity for Leonard on the power play, where he has played 1:20 of ice time per game so far. Among all of the regular power-play forwards, that is the lowest average time on ice, as Leonard typically only comes on with the team up a man when Ovechkin needs a rest.
Tuesday night’s contest will be Leonard’s first-ever game against the Dallas Stars. Ovechkin has played 27 previous games against the Stars, and his 21 points (12g, 9a) against the franchise are the fewest he has recorded against any team in his career, excluding the Seattle Kraken, Vegas Golden Knights, and Utah Mammoth.
