F Andrew Cristall - Kelowna Rockets, WHL (2023, 40th, WSH)

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Has looked outstanding so far. Leonard at 8 and Cristall at 40 has the makings of a really good draft class for Washington.

 

[Cush]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1838753636173648141

 

[Intangir]

Has looked outstanding so far. Leonard at 8 and Cristall at 40 has the makings of a really good draft class for Washington.

Yep.

I watched his game today for the Caps, and he was very good.

I'd like Cristall to be a smidge faster/more explosive, win more battles along the boards, he lost his man a couple times defending the cycle, and he did get outmuscled/fell a little easily from contact a couple times out there. But I still really liked what I saw.

Cristall's anticipation of the play was good, his passes crisp, his defensive game better than advertised, he found holes in defensive coverages to get open, kept control of the puck even when receiving tough-to-corrall passes (which is in my opinion an underrated skill to have), and his shot and release look better than they did last year in junior. He was just plain good and dangerous out there.

Him and Leonard look like potential future top-6 guys for Washington.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

Based on his draft ranking by nearly everybody I saw on this site and all of the pundits on independent scouting websites, the only people that didn’t believe in him were NHL teams. It’s crazy. I had him ranked 9th overall and Leonard ranked 7th. There is just no way Washington should’ve been allowed to get them both lol.