ARLINGTON, Virginia – The hole in the middle of the Washington Capitals lineup with Niklas Backstrom out injured looked tailor made for 2019 first-round pick Connor McMichael, who impressed last season as a rookie in the American Hockey League.
The spot still might be his. But 2020 first-rounder Hendrix Lapierre, who is a year younger and came in with less fanfare, has been among the biggest training camp surprises around the NHL and could land a spot on the opening night roster.
“If I want to be in that opening lineup, I have to push (myself) every day and make sure I´m ready and do the small things correctly,” Lapierre said according to AP. “It´s there, for sure, but right now my goal is to keep improving and learning new stuff each and every day.”
Lapierre, 19, put up four points in his first two preseason games, held his own in drills against Alex Ovechkin and has been put in positions to succeed by the coaching staff.
He probably still needs to add more strength to handle a full 82-game season, but Lapierre is a strong skater and has kept pace.
“He´s done well so far with his game: his creativity, his speed,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “Certainly skating hasn´t been an issue.”
Unlike McMichael, who at 20 can return to Hershey of the AHL, Lapierre must go back to juniors if he’s not in the NHL and cannot be recalled except in an emergency basis.
Taken nine spots ahead of Lapierre, forward Seth Jarvis has stuck around at Carolina’s camp longer than expected and is a candidate to play right away for the Hurricanes.
Jarvis has skated alongside Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho and Nino Niederreiter and gotten some power-play looks in practice.
He told reporters the team has not told him much about the future, which is either sticking in the NHL or going back to juniors.
“They want me to focus defensively,” Jarvis said. “They know I can play with the puck, and in the offensive zone, it´s just more focused away from the puck and (in the) D zone I have a responsibility, so it´s just learning that way.”
While the biggest story line at Senators camp is the absence of unsigned restricted free agent forward Brady Tkachuk, the emergence of center Shane Pinto is a close second.
Pinto has been skating on Ottawa’s second line between 2020 No. 3 pick Tim Stützle and high-scoring winger Connor Brown.
After playing at the University of North Dakota, Pinto got a taste of the NHL by playing in 12 games late last season and put up seven points.
Coach D.J. Smith called Pinto one of the best players so far at camp, and now the 2019 first-rounder looks like a big piece of the Senators’ youth movement.
