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Capitals assistant GM Ross Mahoney ‘very pleased’ by team’s late-round picks at 2017 NHL Draft

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The Washington Capitals have traded away many of their assets to aggressively contend for the Stanley Cup over the last two seasons. That left them with only four selections in the 2017 NHL Draft – all from the fourth round on.

“We looked to trade up a couple of times,” Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said. “But unfortunately [the players we wanted] got taken before we got there.”

Three of the Capitals’ four selections were defensemen. The Capitals made their first selection in the fourth round, selecting Tobias Geisser 120th overall. They followed those picks up with Swedish defenseman Sebastian Walfridsson (fifth round), American defenseman Benton Maas (sixth round), and left winger Kristian Roykas-Marthinsen (seventh round).

Capitals assistant GM Ross Mahoney talked about the picks immediately after the draft concluded.

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Mahoney on having none of the picks at United Center.

“When you’re not picking until the fourth round, a lot of the kids aren’t here.”

Thoughts on the players the Caps took in the draft?

“Actually, very pleased. When you don’t have a first, second, or third, you know obviously there are going to be a lot of good players taken. We were very happy about who was there when we picked in all the rounds.”

Why so many defensemen?

“It comes down to taking the best player available to us. There were defensemen still on the board so we took them.”

Nine of the Caps last 15 picks have been blueliners.

“I think teams are always looking for defensemen. And so, for us there’s no problem for us to have extra defensemen in the system.

“You always try to stay ahead of the curve. Maybe there’s rule changes that enable certain type of players to have more of an opportunity. So yeah, you want your defensemen to be able to skate and have good sense and be able to make quick decisions because the game is so fast now. Forwards get on the defense really quickly so you want to make sure you have guys who can skate and can move the puck well.”

Mahoney on why the team drafted Tobias Geisser in the third round with the 120th selection.

“The young player that we took, Tobias, played on their national teams. He was the captain of the Under-18 team so you have an opportunity to see him play in the major tournaments.”

Did he play in a league against older men?

“Yeah, he did. He was a late cut of the Under-20 team for the World Junior. Good sense, skates really well, good size. Actually played more forward than defense until a couple of years ago so that was pretty intriguing to us also.”

Are you planning to play him as a forward?

“Right now, I would say keep him at D. He’s made a lot of progress for a younger guy. Like I said, to transition from forward to defense, it can be a lot harder to be going that way as compared to the other way. He played well. He’s big. He’s smart. He moves the puck well. Like his leadership qualities that he has.”

Why has the Swiss program been so successful lately? Two of the Caps best prospects are Swiss: Jonas Siegenthaler and Damien Riat.

“I think they’ve given the younger players more of an opportunity to play with the older players at times and kind of speeding up their development. I know they put a lot of money into their coaching and into their development of younger players at younger ages. I think a lot of them have an opportunity to move up and play in one of the elite league or first division and get the opportunities. I think it’s just part of them putting more resources, developing better coaches, and improving the whole system. It’s paid dividends. There’s a lot more Swiss players now.”

With the Capitals fifth round pick, they selected Swedish defenseman Sebastian Walfridsson with the 151st overall pick.

“Good two-way defenseman. Real character guy. Played on the Under-18 team in all the different tournaments. We thought in April in the World Championship, he was probably one of the more physical defensemen that they had on their team. We know they had the Brannstroms (first-round, 15th overall pick) and the Liljegrens (first-round, 17th overall pick) that went early in the draft, but we thought Sebastian was the perfect sort of complimentary guy to play with those two players.”

The Capitals selected American defenseman Benton Maas in the sixth round with the 182 overall pick.

“We’re happy with him. (Capitals scout) A.J. Toews really likes Benton Maas a lot. As we said, right-handed defenseman that skates well, is the captain of the team. Another guy with good character, good leadership. Actually went to the North American league after his season was over and performed even better against older players in junior than his high school so I thought that was a positive also.”

The Caps ended the draft with a seventh round selection of Kristian Roykas-Marthinsen a Norwegian left-wing who played in Sweden last season.

“Left winger. Left-handed shot. Strong. Very good shot. Really impressed us in the Under-18 champion in Slovenia. I think he had five goals in maybe five games. He was very powerful and had very good finish around the net.”

Mahoney on if these draft picks would be at development camp this week.

“Not sure on trying to get them in Development. We’ll see.”

More info on the picks from the Capitals:

The Washington Capitals selected defenseman Tobias Geisser (120th overall), defenseman Sebastian Walfridsson (151st overall), defenseman Benton Maass (182nd overall) and left wing Kristian Roykas Marthinsen (213th) on the second day of the 2017 NHL Draft, held Saturday at United Center in Chicago, Ill.

Geisser, 18, was ranked 30th overall among European skaters by NHL Central Scouting. The 6’4”, 200-pound defenseman made his National League (Swiss) debut in 2016-17 and recorded one assist in 14 games with EV Zug. Geisser also registered 10 points (3g, 7a) in 34 games with EV Zug’s minor-league affiliate last season, EV Zug Academy. The Stans, Switzerland native represented Switzerland at the 2017 IIHF World U18 Championship, the 2016 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup and the 2016 U20 4 Nations Tournament. This is the third consecutive season the Capitals have selected a Swiss-born player in the NHL Draft (2016: Damien Riat, 2015: Jonas Siegenthaler).

Walfridsson, 18, was ranked 116th overall among European skaters by NHL Central Scouting. The 6’0”, 194-pound defenseman recorded seven points (2g, 5a) in 38 games with Modo Jr. (Sweden-Jr.) last season. Other notable Modo Jr. players to be selected in the NHL Draft include Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Victor Hedman. Walfridsson represented Sweden at the 2017 IIHF U18 World Championship, the 2016 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup and the 2016 Five Nations Tournament. He also made his HockeyAllsvenskan (Sweden-2) debut in 2016-17, appearing in three games with Modo Hockey.

Maass, 18, was ranked 159th overall among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. The 6’1”, 185-pound defenseman registered 29 points (6g, 23a) in 25 games with Elk River High School (Minnesota) last season. In addition, Maass recorded 16 points (7g, 9a) in 26 games with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs (NAHL) in 2016-17. This is the second consecutive season the Capitals have selected a player from the NAHL (2016: Dmitriy Zaitsev, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton). Maass has committed to play at the University of New Hampshire (NCAA) during the 2017-18 season.

Marthinsen, 17, registered 18 points (13g, 5a) in 19 games with Almtuna’s junior team (Sweden) during the 2016-17 season and recorded 17 points (10g, 7a) in 28 games with Almtuna’s U18 team last season. The 6’0”, 185-pound left wing played one game with Almtuna in 2016-17, scoring a goal in his HockeyAllsvenskan (Sweden-2) debut.

NHL.com Prospect Pages
Geisser: http://www.nhl.com/ice/draftprospectdetail.htm?dpid=107336
Walfridsson: http://www.nhl.com/ice/draftprospectdetail.htm?dpid=107955
Maass: http://www.nhl.com/ice/draftprospectdetail.htm?dpid=110293
Marthinsen: http://www.nhl.com/ice/draftprospectdetail.htm?dpid=108569

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