HERSHEY, PA — Andrew Cristall is adjusting to new linemates and arguably hasn’t played his best hockey early for the Hershey Bears. It hasn’t mattered.
Four games into the 2026-27 season, the Capitals’ 2023 second-round pick is tied for the AHL lead in points (8), assists (8), and plus-minus (+6). Six of his eight apples are primary assists.
Cristall has registered a point in four straight games to start the season, including a hat trick of assists in the Bears’ 6-1 win over the Texas Stars on Sunday, matching a career high.
The big production comes after Cristall registered 60 points (20g, 40a) in 72 games with Hershey during his rookie season pro in 2025-26.
Cristall’s statistics
Stats are as of the morning of October 14
AHL Points Leaders
| Rank | Player | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-1 | Andrew Cristall | Hershey Bears | 8 |
| T-1 | Tyson Jugnauth | Coachella Valley Firebirds | 8 |
| T-1 | Laurent Dauphin | Laval Rocket | 8 |
| T-1 | Logan Shaw | Toronto Marlies | 8 |
| T-5 | Jani Nyman | Coachella Valley Firebirds | 7 |
| T-5 | Brendan Brisson | Toronto Marlies | 7 |
| T-5 | Jesse Kiiskinen | Grand Rapids Griffins | 7 |
| T-5 | Noah Gregor | Manitoba Moose | 7 |
| T-5 | Vinni Lettieri | Toronto Marlies | 7 |
| T-5 | Luke Mittelstadt | Laval Rocket | 7 |
| T-5 | Jagger Firkus | Coachella Valley Firebirds | 7 |
AHL Assists Leaders
| Rank | Player | Team | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-1 | Andrew Cristall | Hershey Bears | 8 |
| T-1 | Tyson Jugnauth | Coachella Valley Firebirds | 8 |
| T-3 | Laurent Dauphin | Laval Rocket | 7 |
| T-3 | Logan Shaw | Toronto Marlies | 7 |
| T-5 | Vinni Lettieri | Toronto Marlies | 5 |
| T-5 | Luke Mittelstadt | Laval Rocket | 5 |
| T-5 | Jagger Firkus | Coachella Valley Firebirds | 5 |
| T-5 | Ben McCartney | Tucson Roadrunners | 5 |
| T-5 | Alexander Nylander | Calgary Wranglers | 5 |
AHL Plus-Minus Leaders
| Rank | Player | Team | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-1 | Andrew Cristall | Hershey Bears | +6 |
| T-1 | Bill Zonnon | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins | +6 |
| T-3 | Laurent Dauphin | Laval Rocket | +5 |
| T-3 | Avery Hayes | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins | +5 |
Cristall’s early points come via his elite vision and hockey sense. The winger has a Backstromian knack for anticipating where plays are heading next and finding his teammates with perfect passes.
All of Cristall’s points to start the season
Assist #1 (Secondary) on a Josh Dunne goal, Oct. 3
Assist #2 (Primary) on an Eriks Mateiko goal, Oct. 4
Assist #3 (Primary) on a Petr Sikora goal, Oct. 4
Assist #4 (Secondary) on a Leon Muggli goal, Oct. 10
Assist #5 (Primary) on a Bogdan Trineyev goal, Oct. 10
Assist #6 (Primary) on a Jonny Brodzinski goal, Oct. 11
Assist #7 (Primary) on a Spencer Smallman goal, Oct. 11
Assist #8 (Primary) on a Bogdan Trineyev goal, Oct. 11
Making it to the next level
Cristall’s big start in Hershey is even more impressive, considering he’s adjusting to new linemates. His head coach, Derek King, is also pushing him hard to focus more on his two-way game so he can realize his dream of making it permanently to the next level.
“You know, he was fighting the puck a little bit the first two games, but now he’s kind of getting back into his little groove,” King said. “He’s realized, ‘Okay, I’m here. I might as well make the best of it.'”
After being paired with Ilya Protas and Bogdan Trineyev last season, Cristall has primarily spent the start of the 2026-27 campaign skating on Hershey’s first line with Jonny Brodzinski and Josh Dunne. The two veterans are “tweeners” the Capitals signed over the offseason who have spent swaths of their careers in the NHL. Brodzinski and Dunne are known as smart, 200-foot players who make their hay on the forecheck and by playing north-south hockey, whereas Cristall’s game can be more creative and have a different beat at times.
Finding chemistry has been an on-and-off challenge, as King has alluded to multiple times early in the season.
“I took Cristall off there just to kind of give him a little wake-up call,” Derek King said after Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Texas Stars, where Cristall recorded the game-winning assist on a Bogdan Trineyev goal. “But, you know, he does what he has to do, and I think they’re starting to get more and more comfortable with each other. You know, all three of them are totally different hockey players. So it’s sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t, but I think it’s starting to gel a little bit.”
King has even described Brodzinski and Dunne to the media as effective on-ice coaches, who are “probably better coaches than we are – they just don’t know it.”
Cristall, for his part, appears eager to rise to King’s challenge and soak up as much as he can from his two veteran lineys.
“It’s been great,” Cristall said per the Bears. “They’ve got a lot of experience, and they’re definitely willing to share and help me learn, as I’m only in my second year; I’m still learning and still adjusting.”
Cristall is continuing to be just as creative as he was before. In Saturday night’s win against the Stars, he attempted to score on a Michigan.
The play is something he practices and ends warmups with before every game.
“All I know, if I tried Michigan like that back when I played, I probably wouldn’t be here right now,” King, a former NHL winger who posted 612 points in 830 NHL games, said smiling. “Somebody would have killed me, but that’s the way the game is. It’s an entertaining thing. That’s him. It would have been nice if he scored.”
While Cristall is posting big point numbers despite not even scoring a goal yet, King has wanted to keep the focus on everything else, as the winger’s vision and playmaking ability are admittedly special.
“Players like him, they think the game a little different,” King said. “Sometimes it’s a coach’s nightmare to watch, but sometimes you just got to turn your head. But he just reads the ice. It’s almost like he knows his next play before it even happens. And, you know, he’s good at it.
“Again, I’m not going to toot his horn right now because he’s putting up points,” King said. “He still needs to learn to play that 200-foot game if he’s going to make it to the next level.”
