Washington Capitals rookie Ryan Leonard was thrown into the NHL during the height of Alexander Ovechkin’s all-time goal record chase. Through eight games this season, since coming over from Boston College, Leonard has tallied one goal.
Today on Daily Faceoff Live, Steven Ellis explains why Leonard will come alive in the playoffs and live up to the rookie’s big expectations.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Ryan Leonard in Washington, obviously, a lot of hype about this guy jumping over to the Capitals when his season ended, just one goal in eight games so far in the NHL. He saw his minutes fall off pretty hard in the last two games as well, going 11 minutes and 10 minutes. Are you surprised there hasn’t been more of an immediate jump with him? Is that maybe an unfair expectation to put on a 20-year-old who’s just playing his first NHL games?
Steven Ellis: I expected a bit more. But he’s still shooting. Like, last night he played 10 minutes, he had three shots, and they were pretty good opportunities. He had four shots a couple of nights ago, but he’s getting those chances. He’s still playing physical. He’s a player who would thrive in a big moment, and I know I’ve said that a few times, but that’s kind of what we’re looking at with some of these prospects. Leonard loves a physical game. He brings a lot to the game that you want to see out of Tom Wilson every single night, and that’s someone who will hit you, he’ll fight you, but he can also score, and he’s going to take you off your game.
Steven Ellis: I feel like we’re still seeing that from him. His offense isn’t falling right now, like he only had the one goal, and it was an empty-netter. But I still think what I’ve seen from him is that we’re still seeing those same good habits that we saw in college. It is a bit of an adjustment. Let’s not forget, he got thrown into the fire while Ovechkin was chasing his goal record. So there was a lot of pressure to get that done and maybe that kind of took away from making sure we can maximize what Ryan Leonard himself could do, but I think what we’re still seeing here is a guy that I just loves to loves to compete and that’s what you want to playoffs.
