Ivan Miroshnichenko recently scored his second NHL goal and is gaining confidence with each passing day while playing for the Washington Capitals.
However, the young Russian’s tenure in the NHL might be ending soon if the Capitals aim to maximize the value of his entry-level contract.
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In Thursday’s game against the Seattle Kraken, Miroshnichenko played his ninth NHL game of the 2023-24 season. As a result, the Capitals must now decide what to do with him, considering the entry-level slide rule.
If a player signed to an entry-level contract is 18 or 19 years old (as of September 15 of the signing year) and does not play in a minimum of 10 NHL games (including both regular season and playoffs; AHL games do not count), their contract is considered to ‘slide’, or extend, by one year. For example, if a player signed an ELC for three seasons from 2015-16 to 2017-2018, and their contract slides, their contract is now effective from 2016-17 to 2018-19.
To allow Miro’s 2023-24 season to slide, the Capitals could keep him on their roster but healthy scratch him in the remaining games. They could also send him down to Hershey for the rest of their season as the minor league team prepares to defend their Calder Cup championship. In a procedural move, the Capitals assigned Miro to Hershey on the NHL’s trade deadline day, making him eligible to participate in the AHL’s postseason.
“I would anticipate he gets some games and he’ll be back and forth over the rest of the year,” said Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan regarding Miroshnichenko’s recent performance.
With the Capitals returning to full health, such a move would benefit both the team’s immediate and long-term future. TJ Oshie and Nic Dowd have recently recovered from injuries, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Michael Sgarbossa are available to play and on the roster.
The Capitals have also expressed their desire to evaluate other players from Hershey during the remainder of the season, potentially including Ethen Frank and Alex Limoges. The team has two call-ups remaining for the season.
“Depending on what happens with our roster and injuries, there’s a few guys down there that have had success that we might be able to get in for a few games,” MacLellan said. “[Ethen Frank] is one of them.”
Regardless of what they choose, the Capitals clearly have themselves a budding NHL player in the 20-year-old prospect. Miroshnichenko has scored 2 goals and pumped 10 shots on goal in his last five games, receiving double digit ice time in all of those appearances.
