BUFFALO, NY — For newly minted Washington Capitals prospect Tyus Sparks, the road to the NHL Draft ran through Boise Airport.
Sparks grew up in Idaho, hardly a hockey hotbed, but the lack of local high-level hockey didn’t stop him from playing. Instead, Sparks joined the LA Jr. Kings more than a thousand miles away, flying out for each game before he was even a teenager.
“When I was about 11 or 12, my parents were sending me down to LA or wherever my team would go for the tournaments,” he said Saturday. “I would just fly by myself and go stay with a teammate.”
Between games, Sparks found a way to improve, even without ice skates or a venue to play at.
“During the week, I would try and mimic being on the ice with rollerblades, speeding up and down my street with a parachute on, or putting a weight on the end of my stick and shooting the orange box, doing whatever I could,” he said.
The flights to California ran more than two hours each way, but Sparks told NHL.com’s Bill Douglas before the draft that he didn’t mind the trips.
“It was sick,” he said. “I was just there sitting in the front of the plane, they’re bringing me orange juice before we take off, and I was getting free food. Yeah, I was living the life.”
Sparks’ dedication to the game was rewarded years later when he was selected 101st overall in the 2026 NHL Draft after two seasons in the WHL.
“Just hearing my name and just seeing the looks on my family’s faces, it’s definitely an honor for sure.”
The Capitals traded up to pick Sparks, sending the Columbus Blue Jackets their fourth-round pick (112th overall) and San Jose’s 2028 fifth-round pick to jump up 11 spots.
Capitals select Tyus Sparks with 101st overall pick in 2026 NHL Draft
The 18-year-old forward split the 2025-26 season playing for both the Vancouver Giants and the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL, recording a combined 65 points (28g, 37a) in 69 games and adding three points (2g, 1a) in five playoff games for the Chiefs.
“Excellent shot. He could score,” Capitals assistant general manager Ross Mahoney said, explaining the pick. “One team was probably not the strongest team in the league, Vancouver. Got traded to Spokane, probably thought they’d have a little bit better of a year. I think his assists were almost identical to his goals. Hard-worker, skates well, pretty explosive, so those were things attractive to us.”
The Capitals posted a video of GM Chris Patrick securing the pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets. “Why isn’t he gone?” Mahoney remarks in the clip.
NHL Central Scouting had the 6-foot, 190-pound Sparks listed as the 37th-best North American skater in their final rankings. Sparks cited high-scoring Utah Mammoth forward Dylan Guenther as a comparable.
“Similar play style,” Sparks said. “He’s obviously a great skater, playmaking ability, and has a great shot as well.”
Sparks’ success as an athlete comes as his father, Nate Sparks, was a quarterback at Boise State and for the CFL’s British Columbia Lions. His mother, Debbie Sparks, was a gymnast at Boise State. Before landing on the LA Jr. Kings as a 13-year-old, the family commuted 10 hours back and forth across the border to Vancouver so he could play against better competition.
Sparks noted that his favorite player growing up was Patrice Bergeron, but he was an Alex Ovechkin fan, revealing that he watched Ovi break the NHL goals record on TV.
“It was unreal,” he said, before adding, “Hopefully my one-timer can be as good as his.”
Just two Idaho-born players have ever cracked the NHL, none since 1957. Sparks has already shown that he’s willing to put in the miles, and he’s not deterred by the lack of local hockey history. If anything, he wants to pave a path for more Idaho kids to hit the ice.
“It would mean the world to be one of the few from Idaho and just set the stage for the other kids,” he said. “Hopefully that could be a huge inspiration for some guys.”
Katie Adler contributed to this story from Arlington, Virginia
