The Capitals approach a decentralized NHL draft with a familiar plan

Washington Post

4 days ago

Instead of gathering at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles for the first round of the 2025 NHL draft on Friday, the Washington Capitals' front office and scouting staff will be ensconced in the familiar confines of the team's practice facility in Arlington.
NHL teams will run this weekend's draft from their home facilities, rather than coming together in a single location. The league used this setup recently, though those changes were because of the coronavirus pandemic. The more recent shift to decentralization was voted on by the teams in October 2023; the NHL held a traditional draft last year at Sphere in Las Vegas as a sort of final hurrah.
Now that it has arrived, impressions are mixed on the new format. There are already rumors that the NHL will return to its usual operation, with all 32 teams in the same place, in 2026.
'We can ask in a couple days. We'll give you a little better answer. We'll see,' Ross Mahoney, Washington's assistant general manager in charge of amateur scouting, said Tuesday. 'I mean, it gives you more freedom to talk. When you're on the draft floor, the next table is right here with scouts on other teams and that. It gives us a lot more freedom to speak freely and talk about things, but we'll have a better idea after Saturday.'
This year's draft carries a bit less significance for the Capitals than the last two. Their first-round pick is 27th overall, the latest they've picked in the opening round since they took Ivan Miroshnichenko at No. 20 in 2022. In 2023, Washington selected Ryan Leonard at No. 8, and in 2024, made Terik Parascak the No. 17 pick.
The Capitals have five picks in this draft, down from eight last year. They hold their own first-round pick, Boston's second-rounder (No. 37) as a result of the Garnet Hathaway trade in 2023, Carolina's third-rounder (No. 93) from trading Evgeny Kuznetsov last year and their own fourth- and fifth-round picks at Nos. 123 and 155, respectively.
Washington's draft success in recent years, with the likes of Leonard, Parascak, Andrew Cristall, Cole Huston and Ilya Protas all looking the part of top prospects, has left the Capitals well-stocked with rising talent. From Mahoney's standpoint, though, the approach to the draft remains the same.
'We always take the best player available,' Mahoney said. 'I know that question comes up all the time, but we really do. If you went by position, I think you run that risk of saying, 'Let's a defenseman this year, we're a little light on defense,' and then a forward goes and he ends up being a much better player. You're probably kicking yourself after for not doing that. … We've always tried to stick to best player available, unless you're splitting hairs.'
If Washington is splitting hairs in this year's draft, particularly with its first-round choice, it seems likely that the decision will lean toward a center. Mahoney views the first 40 picks of this draft as particularly strong on centers, with wingers a close second, while the quality of the defensemen and goaltenders at the top of the draft is a bit lighter than normal.
Some centers that are projected to be available late in the first round include Will Horcoff, Milton Gastrin, Jack Nesbitt, Cole McKinney, Cullen Potter and Mason West. West, also the starting quarterback at Edina High School in Minnesota, may be the most interesting prospect in the draft class, with raw athleticism, speed and skill at 6-foot-6 but some questions about his decisiveness in picking hockey as his chosen sport.
Mahoney often says that the Capitals place a premium on the character of the players they're selecting, and he came away from the draft combine in Buffalo earlier this month impressed with this class on that front.
'We just got back from doing the combine and the interviews, and it was probably the best group of kids we've ever done as far as the interviews,' he said. 'I think there's a lot of really high-end character kids in this year's draft. It was amazing, actually. Their self-evaluations are really good.'
There's also the chance that Washington could choose to trade its first-round pick, which might be more likely this year than in years previous, as the Capitals look to transition from retooling on the fly into being a contender.
Mahoney, of course, would prefer to make the pick rather than trade it, but he would understand the rationale if a trade were to occur. The trade market has picked up around the NHL in recent days, and with the salary cap set to jump by $7.5 million this offseason, it's expected that there will be more movement than usual around the draft.
'When you're on the amateur side, you love to make picks. That's your job. That's what you do as a group,' Mahoney said. 'But if you're making a trade to acquire an asset that you think is going to improve your team and put you over the hump and give you a chance to win a [Stanley] Cup, then by all means, you go with that.
'We've had years where we've had three first-round picks and we've had years where we've had no first-round picks. It depends on what other teams throw at us in the next three or four days to see whether you're moving that pick or not, but for me, I'd like to have those picks.'