ARLINGTON, V.A. — As the Washington Capitals continue to get younger, they're looking forward to seeing what some of the Hershey Bears can bring to the table next training camp. Washington is expecting some of its prospects who spent this past season in the AHL to compete hard for a spot in the fall and ultimately, turn heads and make the roster. "The personnel side would like one or two of them to make it," general manager Chris Patrick said. "The coaches would probably have a little longer timeline than we do. We'll see where it ends up." A couple of more tenured names looking to make the full-time jump next year include Hendrix Lapierre, who started the year up with the Capitals but was unable to find consistency and ultimately got sent back down, where he pulled off a point-per-game regular season, and Ivan Miroshnichenko, who had 23 goals in 53 games with the Bears and also got 18 games up at the NHL level this season. Then, there are players who would be NHL rookies, like Bogdan Trineyev, a fourth-line candidate who made significant breakthroughs this year in the AHL. Trineyev is coming off a career year, where he put up 14 goals and eight assists in 62 games before leading Hershey this postseason with five goals and two assists through eight playoff games. Beyond the players who may be NHL ready, there are a handful of prospects who are also looking to make the pro jump from juniors, including Andrew Cristall, who almost made the Capitals out of training camp this past season. Now 20, Cristall is eligibe to play with the Bears if he doesn't make Washington's roster, and he's expected to make quite a bit of noise. In 56 games this season, he picked up 48 goals and 84 assists for 132 points with the Kelowna Rockets and Spokane Chiefs before adding 41 points in 19 playoff games. Other dark horses for a spot in Pierrick Dubé and Henrik Rybinski, who are restricted free agents this summer. Riley Sutter could be a candidate if he gets re-signed; he's a group 6 UFA. In the end, it's all part of the plan for D.C., who wants to continue to transition to a younger roster. "Our goal, as within the last two years, is to get younger. We're transitioning from a mature, older team into a younger team and it continues to be that goal going forward for us," Patrick said. "We're going to inject a bunch of prospects into Hershey next year that we're pretty excited about. Not sure where they are in their development path. But over the next two years we're going to be adding young guys, and hopefully we can complement it with a good transaction or two in free agency or the trade market."
