Ryan Leonard has finally made his long awaited arrival to the Caps on Monday.
Ryan Leonard was signed to a 3 year entry-level contract. His contract will carry an average annual value of $950,000.
Leonard was the Capitals 8th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. Lenny led the NCAA in goals with 30 and game winning goals with 9. Ryan also was ranked 10th in the country in points which he accumulated 49.
With the arrival of the highly skilled and hyped Leonard brings a tough decision at the hands of Spencer Carbery. Where does Leonard fit in in this lineup?
In my opinion I think he replaces Raddysh or Mangiapane. The decision is tough because Raddysh has been playing good as of late and he brings some solid size to the lineup. For his debut it wouldn’t be bad to have RL9 on the 4th line to get his feet wet and pair him with veterans Eller and Dowd. Given that RL9 is goal scorer replacing Raddysh to start makes sense given that Raddysh only has 7 goals on the season, so sacrificing size for goal scoring ability is a positive.
I could also see Carbs alternate who RL9 replaces so we have some fresh legs on different game days as well as see who RL9 meshes the best with.
UPDATE 11:00AM
It looks like Leonard will be linemates with Protas and Strome! Man this line will be buzzing tonight. Call it the the line of LADs!
Seeing that Caps have already clinched and having a 9 point lead on the Hurricanes for 1st in the East, so it gives Carbs a large scale of flexibility to mess with the lines.
Overall this is a great problem to have when it comes to how well the Caps are playing and being able to add a exceptionally skilled goal scorer to the lineup is definitely a positive. Not to mention RL9 has played in high octane intense games already being that he played in the World Juniors Final, so I don’t think he will shy away from the bright lights.
The Capitals take on the Bruins Tuesday night in Boston so expect a large Leonard fan/family gathering to see the new number 9 make his NHL debut!
The Morning Skate 