The Washington Capitals gave 2022 first-round draft selection Ivan Miroshnichenko his first three games of NHL action this past week. The Russian youngster made his NHL debut against the New York Islanders on Wednesday and then got into Thursday’s contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Saturday’s matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
After that last game, the team sent Miroshnichenko and fellow rookie forward Hendrix Lapierre back to the AHL’s Hershey Bears. The recall was a short but ever so rewarding experience for a player that has fought through more adversity than most to get to this point of his career.
Miroshnichenko expressed some of his appreciation for that experience in a post on his Instagram account, Sunday.
In the post geo-tagged at Capital One Arena, Miroshnichenko wrote in the caption as translated from Russian, “Unforgettable emotions! Glad to be part of @capitals.”
The 19-year-old winger spent all three of his first games on the Capitals’ second line skating with fellow countryman Evgeny Kuznetsov, playing a total 28:37 of ice time. While he did not record his first NHL point, Miroshnichenko fired four shots on goal, threw six hits, and blocked one shot.
Miroshnichenko’s debut game was perhaps his best effort of the three. In that initial test against the Islanders, he individually registered two shots on goal, five shot attempts, three scoring chances, and three hits in 10:13 of ice time in regulation. With Miro out on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals came out ahead in shot attempts (13-10), scoring chances (4-3), and high-danger chances (3-2).
Inside the locker room after the victory, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery gave Miroshnichenko a shoutout at the tail end of his postgame speech. The youngster’s teammates then pressured him into giving a brief speech.
“Best day tonight, thank you,” he said smiling ear to ear.
Carbery gave his first impressions of Miro’s arrival into the big leagues after the team’s morning skate on Saturday. Miroshnichenko is the third player that Carbery has handed an NHL debut this season after Hardy Haman Aktell and Hunter Shepard.
“Similar to what we saw in the preseason, there’s, you could see the offensive instincts from him in the first couple games,” Carbery said. “There’s two or three sequences each game: probably more so, I thought he was better in the Islanders game than the Columbus game–back-to-back, travel, tough for a young player, first time going through that, playing in a hostile environment–of where you see he’s in good spots offensively and the puck finds him.”
Besides his offensive talent, Carbery highlighted Miroshnichenko’s ability to adapt to the team’s system, particularly given the current language barrier. Placing Miro on Kuznetsov’s line and having Aliaksei Protas be his interpreter for interviews were part of the Capitals’ efforts to get other Russian-speaking players involved to help their young peer. Miro’s English remains spotty, making the amount he’s learned an even bigger achievement.
“For someone that his English is so minimal, him being able to take a few things from our structure and teaching and being able to implement that into a game I was impressed with,” Carbery said. “Because I didn’t have high expectations from him from a systematic standpoint. Was probably, if I’m being honest, a little bit worried about that part of it for him. But I saw a few instances where he did a real good job, understood what we wanted to do: defending the rush, forecheck route, D-zone coverage, so that I was impressed with.”
Although Miroshnichenko is far from a fully-developed player, his first three games showed that he is well on his way to becoming one. One thing for certain is that Miroshnichenko is not going to take any of his journey for granted.
The rookie forward was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma on his 18th birthday and spent much of his draft year undergoing treatment. From the years of training to his recovery from cancer and transition to North America, those obstacles gave his recent debut even more significance.
“I’m nervous because basically I went through so many circumstances and different situations in my life,” Miroshnichenko said last week. “Worked for that for my whole life and everybody nervous, family is nervous. So just so excited.”
