HERSHEY, PA — Back with the Hershey Bears ahead of their upcoming playoff run, Ivan Miroshnichenko just completed his most successful stint in the NHL since first debuting on December 20, 2023. The talented winger, a first-round draft pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, played in nine of the Capitals’ final 11 games of the season, posting 3 points while playing primarily on the fourth line with Justin Sourdif and Brandon Duhaime.
Miroshnichenko posted his first career multi-goal game in the NHL against the Utah Mammoth on March 26 and then later notched his third career point streak in the NHL.
“I think Miro is finding his identity at the NHL level, and so you saw some of it the other night,” Spencer Carbery said then.
Toward the end of the Capitals’ regular season, Caps management called up Ilya Protas, who would frequently skate on the same line with Miroshnichenko in Hershey, and Little Pro immediately looked like a star. He scored his first point and first NHL goal, recording four points in four games while skating on a line with his brother Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson.
Miroshnichenko also got to spend a lot of time with Alex Ovechkin down the stretch, where, at age 40, the Capitals captain is considering retirement and may have played his final games in the NHL. The 22-year-old forward hung out with Ovechkin, including a night out in Pittsburgh with Evgeni Malkin, and witnessed the standing ovations and hoopla surrounding what many believed could be his swan song in the NHL
After Hershey’s practice on Friday, Miroshnichenko spoke to RMNB about his time in DC, being around Ovechkin — one of his idols growing up — and his emotions seeing Ilya’s success in the NHL.
RMNB Q/A with Ivan Miroshnichenko
Q: What did it mean for you to be up there with the Capitals the last month or so of the season, and what did you take from it?
Ivan Miroshnichenko: “Every time it’s good experience to play there with legend. A couple of old guys, Tom, Ovi, Johnny. I don’t know, work with coach and stuff. Good experience every time, play at different level.”
Q: How did you feel like your game translated to the NHL this time? Because playing on the fourth line, right, with Duhaime and Sourds. Did that give you more confidence because you were playing more along the boards and things like that?
Ivan Miroshnichenko:” I don’t know, every time when I play there, it’s good for me. Doesn’t matter what line, how many minutes I take. I say before coaches help me, guys help me. I play there. It’s good.”
Q: So you’ve got a lot of experience now playing hockey in the playoffs here in Hershey. How is that going to help, especially some of the younger guys, maybe haven’t had that experience yet? How can you help them through this experience, and what playoff hockey is like here?
Ivan Miroshnichenko: “Yeah, a lot of guys play their first season, playing with big, strong men. Of course, me and other guys who played here last year before in the American Hockey League, we tried to help young guys in locker room there, showing showing guys how to play hard in front net, a couple of punches. It’s good for us and for guys.”
Q: How proud of you were you of Little Pro going up and just being so amazing?
Ivan Miroshnichenko: “Yeah, watch Big Pro, Little Pro play together. It’s unbelievable, I think. Everybody dream here, play with brother there. Of course, I’m so proud for watch Little Pro. Scored first goal. Good point. First game. Yeah, so proud.”
Q: Was it emotional for you?
Ivan Miroshnichenko: “Yeah, for me, I think for guys here, coaches here, for everybody.”
Q: Towards the end, did you feel the bigness of the games with Ovi’s career? We don’t know if he’s coming back or retiring. But did you feel that as someone who’s followed him so long?
Ivan Miroshnichenko: “Hundreds video cameras, photo guys. Of course, it’s more pressure for everybody in locker room. And we ask him, ‘What do you think? You done?’ It’s okay. If he’s done, I think we play in an older team, 60-years-old-plus, after my career, in Russia, no?”
Q: When did you first start being a fan of Ovi’s when you were little? Like an age? Do you remember how?
Ivan Miroshnichenko: “I don’t remember. Maybe in a World Championship. When I young, watch TV, and the World Cup, played Russia there. Ovechkin, Malkin, and everybody, and I watched it there. I don’t know how age I was there. Every hockey kid knows his name.”
Q: You got to spend time with Evgeni Malkin. He was close to you guys that last weekend. What did that mean to you, too?
Ivan Miroshnichenko: “It’s unbelievable experience for me, for Little Pro. We just sit on the same table and have dinner with Ovi, Malkin. Just listen what these two guys talking and picture after.”
Q: With how close you guys all are, especially with Aliaksei and Ilya, how much pride did you have that all of you guys were doing it together at the end of the season? Does that make you excited about the future? You re-signed really early in the season, which made me think you were really excited about what’s to come here in Washington.
Ivan Miroshnichenko: “I think in every team who have a lot of Russian guys, it’s good for everybody. And your wife, your kids, who talk. Maybe every weekend, barbecues are talking, and locker room talking. If you’re born in different county, it’s hard for you to all season talk with English. You want to talk with your language every time. I think it’s unbelievable if I have five, six Russian guys or Belarusian.”
