Jack St. Ivany wasn’t sure what to expect when the Winnipeg Jets placed him on waivers last week. But when the Washington Capitals claimed him, he was immediately thrilled about the new opportunity.
The 27-year-old blueliner practiced with his new team for the first time on Monday morning and met with reporters after the skate.
“I was honestly so excited,” St. Ivany said. “It’s an unbelievable organization, unbelievable team, so I was through the roof.”
While the adjustment to a new team and city will take time, St. Ivany already has one pretty memorable perk of joining the Capitals: sharing a locker room with the legendary Alex Ovechkin. When asked about being just three locker-room stalls away from the future Hall of Famer, St. Ivany, who also played with Sidney Crosby on the Pittsburgh Penguins, acknowledged how special the opportunity already feels.
“I mean, it’s crazy how your life can change, you know,” St. Ivany said. “It’s an unbelievable opportunity to be able to share the ice with him and be on the same team as him and, you know, say hi to him. It’s like the coolest thing. It’s kind of a dream.”
St. Ivany could immediately establish a role with the Capitals, as the club is dealing with injuries to key defenders Vincent Desharnais and Rasmus Sandin. With both not expected back for several weeks and Dylan McIlrath unable to lock down a regular role during games, St. Ivany could get consistent playing time early in his stint with Washington.
At Monday’s skate, St. Ivany was paired with rookie rearguard Cole Hutson, while McIlrath filled in as a placeholder on the team’s top pairing as Jakob Chychrun took a maintenance day. Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery wouldn’t commit to St. Ivany playing against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, but said there was “definitely a chance.”
“I’ve seen him live before,” Carbery said. “Good skill set, big kid, skates well, handles the puck well, so looks like an NHL defenseman. He’s shown that he can play in the league. Now it’s about solidifying himself, getting an opportunity, and chipping away at 1, 2, 10, 20, 30, 40 games to show you can provide good, solid NHL minutes. And so that’s what he’s looking for.
“Hopefully, like I hope for all of our players, that comes to fruition in our organization, but we’ll see where it goes. I know we liked him. Our management team likes him. Our scouts like him. And now, as coaches, our responsibility is to get him up to speed with our systems, the things we expect, how we play. And then his job is to take advantage of the opportunity and perform well.”
With the club’s systems, St. Ivany knows he has a lot to digest and execute in a very short time. He already has some experience with that process this season in Winnipeg, as this is his first year outside the Penguins organization since turning pro.
“You feel like you just got to be a sponge and try to absorb as much as you can,” St. Ivany said. “There’s going to be a lot of communication. I did some video already this morning and went over some systems. I’m just going to be learning on the fly and compete as hard as I can.”
St. Ivany also has the benefit of having played against the Capitals and their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, many times while with Pittsburgh. In the regular season alone, he matched up with Hershey 31 times and four of his 57 career NHL games have come against the Caps.
“Tons of good battles,” St. Ivany said. “I remember I was on the ice for a 5-on-3 goal against with Ovi. So, you know, on the wrong side of that one. But, yeah, I mean, it’s an unbelievable building to play in. The crowd’s always going. So that was a cool experience, and I’m excited to be on this side of it.”
St. Ivany, who describes himself as a “physical defenseman with a good stick,” could make his Capitals debut later this week. In four games for the Jets this year, he has played 15:29 of average ice time per game.
