The Washington Capitals finished off their preseason against the Boston Bruins Saturday night, using the game as a dress rehearsal for the expected Opening Night roster rather than a final trial for players on the bubble. Andrew Cristall was the only bubble player to make the lineup against Boston as he dressed for his fourth exhibition game this fall.
At age 19, Cristall has proved one of the biggest surprises of the Capitals’ preseason. Though he appeared likely to spend another season in the WHL, Cristall has instead put up a strong performance to make his case for a spot in the NHL.
While Cristall didn’t appear on the scoresheet in Washington’s 2-0 win on Saturday, Carbery praised his game against Boston, which led to several scoring chances.
“I thought he was solid again tonight,” Carbery said. “Felt like it was very similar to the way that he’s looked all camp. There’s some things that for being a smaller guy, bumped off the puck a little bit, some puck battle stuff. But then you see the breakaway. Had another good chance in the first period. So, he does a lot of good things and he’s around the puck so he’s earned and proven that he deserves to be here right until the bitter end.”
Carbery later elaborated on why he opted to play Cristall in what was otherwise a lineup of players who had already secured a spot for Opening Night.
“Simply put, he earned that opportunity to play one more game tonight through the camp that he’s had,” he said. “We as a staff, and with Chris (Patrick) and Mac, felt like he deserved to play another game and have an opportunity to display what he’s capable of doing at the National Hockey League level. That was the thought process or the final point of why we made that decision.”
With three points (2g, 1a) in four games, Cristall tied for the team lead in preseason scoring, and he played more at five-on-five (52:13) than any other Capitals forward. Head coach Spencer Carbery noted earlier in the week that the team was considering keeping him on the roster to start the regular season.
Cristall’s play over the preseason has also caught the attention of his teammates, including Aliaksei Protas, who played on the third line with Cristall against Boston.
“He’s been great, really nice guy in the locker room and brings a ton of energy,” he said. “You can see how hard he works and he for sure deserves to play, to get those chances. He takes care of them, he’s fast, he’s skilled, and it was fun to play with him tonight.”
Goaltender Charlie Lindgren similarly highlighted Cristall’s energy, comparing him to the 22-year-old Hendrix Lapierre.
“He’s almost got a little Lappy in him,” Lindgren said. “And those two hang around each other a lot, it seems like. Just that young energy. Very talented hockey player. I think he plays the right way. He plays hard. He’s a fun kid to have around, just because he brings that life and brings that energy. He’s had a great training camp. The games I’ve watched, he’s stuck out to me. Pretty proud of him.”
The Capitals will have to make some hard choices before Monday, when they will have to submit their 23-man roster to the NHL. Excluding Hunter Shepard, who the team will likely put on waivers Sunday to send him back to the Hershey Bears, Washington currently has 25 players fighting for a place on the roster, meaning they will need to cut two skaters on the bubble. Besides Cristall, other players in contention for those final spots include forwards Ivan Miroshnichenko, Jakub Vrana, and Sonny Milano as well as defensemen Dylan McIlrath and Alex Alexeyev.
Carbery spoke on the emotional impact of those final decisions, empathizing with the players who will end up on the outside looking in.
“We’re going to have to get to 23, for sure, and there’s some waiver stuff that potentially comes into play,” he said. “So, yeah, difficult decisions. It’s hard this time of year because guys have trained all summer and have worked for this point and had camps and gone through the grind and everything that Training Camp entails in the National Hockey League and then we have to make some difficult decisions and it always sucks.”
The NHL-CHL agreement limits Cristall’s final destination, forcing the Capitals to either keep him in the NHL or return him to the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets. If they opt to send him back to juniors, the agreement also prevents the Capitals from recalling him until the end of his season in Kelowna, meaning this could be his only chance to play in Washington this year. Should Cristall stay on the NHL roster, the Caps could play him for up to nine games before starting the clock on his entry-level deal.
After locking in their roster, the Capitals will have several days off before kicking off the regular season on October 12 against the New Jersey Devils.
