Capitals enjoy 'wonderful' relationship with AHL affiliate in Hershey

John Walton has seen the relationship between the Washington Capitals and their American Hockey League affiliate in Hershey from both sides.

The Capitals radio broadcaster built his own game on Hershey broadcasts before earning his full-time NHL promotion ahead of the 2011-12 season.

Walton remembers being in Hershey in 2005, a time when it was in the market for a new NHL parent team. The Capitals were looking for an AHL affiliate. The teams quickly found a fit.

"It's funny," Walton said, "I was at the Hotel Hershey [that] day, and now we're bearing down on 20 years."

The partnership makes sense. Hershey, Pennsylvania, is two-and-a-half hours away from Washington D.C., which makes for simple player logistics. The Bears play in the 10,500-seat Giant Center, an arena with NHL-quality amenities. They joined what is today's AHL as an expansion team for the 1938-39 season and are the league's oldest franchise. The fan base spans several generations in Central Pennsylvania, so Capitals prospects receive the scrutiny in Hershey that they will later encounter in Washington.

"They demand excellence," Walton said of Hershey fans.

After another excellent season, Hershey is back for its sixth trip to the Calder Cup Final since affiliating with the Capitals in 2005. Hershey has an AHL-record 11 Calder Cup championships and is facing Coachella Valley, the new AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken.

Hershey trails the best-of-7 series 2-0 after being shut out in each of the first two games on the road. It will host Game 3 on Tuesday.

Seattle and Coachella Valley are working to build what Washington and Hershey already have. For 18 years, Capitals prospects have been able to develop in Hershey inside a winning environment before moving up to the NHL When the Capitals won their first Stanley Cup in 2018, they had 14 Hershey alumni.

In its first season as a Capitals affiliate, Hershey won the Calder Cup in 2006. Future NHL players Boyd Gordon, Mike Green, Brooks Laich, and Deryk Engelland played with Hershey that first season. The team reached the 2007 Calder Cup Final before another championship followed in 2009. Then came the 2009-10 Hershey team that had an AHL-record 60 wins and won another Calder Cup. That team had Karl Alzner and John Carlson in starring roles as young defensemen before they became key members of the Capitals.

The Bears have been a goaltending factory for the Capitals, as well. Philipp Grubauer, Braden Holtby, Michal Neuvirth, Ilya Samsonov, Vitek Vanecek, and Semyon Varlamov each developed his pro game in Hershey before moving on to the NHL.

"I can't imagine [a better affiliation]," Walton said. "The geographic proximity. The commitment, I think, from the Washington perspective to overcook prospects. Nobody's getting rushed. You want guys to be able to win and grow and be ready at the NHL level, but a lot of times it takes a couple years."

Spending more than a decade as a Stanley Cup contender has meant that the Capitals have traded away many draft picks and prospects through the years. But there's still another generation of future Capitals in Hershey, and they have a good opportunity to move on to Washington as soon as next season.

"You're not getting top-5 picks, because Washington has been so good in that time," Walton said. "But I think evidenced by what's going on right now there's obviously a lot of attention still paid and making sure you've got the right coach, which they certainly do with Todd Nelson. Being able to have that veteran steady hand help grow prospects for the Caps, I think it's wonderful."

If and when those prospects do stick with the Capitals, they will be playing for new coach Spencer Carbery, a Hershey alum himself. Carbery was coach in Hershey for three seasons, including 2020-21 when he was named AHL coach of the year. Carbery joins Bruce Boudreau as the second former Hershey coach to take that same role in Washington.

Washington does not rush prospects, and Connor McMichael has benefited from that patience. A first-round pick (No. 25) by Washington in the 2019 NHL Draft, the forward went to Hershey on assignment from the Capitals on Nov. 20. Nelson made him an alternate captain at points in the second half of the season, and the 22-year-old finished with 39 points (16 goals 23 assists) in 57 games. He has followed up in the playoffs with seven points (four goals, three assists) in 15 playoff games.

Vincent Iorio missed five playoff games with an undisclosed injury, but the defenseman has had a standout rookie season. The 20-year-old, a Capitals second-round pick (No. 55) in the 2021 NHL Draft, had 22 points (two goals, 20 assists) in 63 AHL regular-season games. He had an assist in his NHL debut for the Capitals on March 4 against the San Jose Sharks and went on to play two more NHL games before returning to Hershey for the stretch drive.

Beck Malenstyn has become a dominant checking presence. Injuries took a toll on the forward earlier in his career, but he's become a dependable go-to option for coach Nelson.

These players are expected to join the Capitals lineup soon. Each hopes to make an impact in the NHL, though perhaps not as grand as a prospect Walton remembers playing in a preseason game in Hershey prior to the 2005-06 season.

Alex Ovechkin was a few weeks away from making his NHL debut with the Capitals after they had chosen him No. 1 in the 2004 NHL Draft, when he played that game in Hershey. Eighteen years later, both Ovechkin and Hershey remain important parts of the Capitals organization.

"I think that visit solidified the beginning of it," Walton said, "and it just felt from the very beginning [that] the Capitals are a committed partner to the Bears, the success, the development, and I think that's still going on today."