With the vast majority of the Washington Capitals roster already set in stone, there is one spot that remains a vacant.
The Capitals have an extra forward spot open on the roster, and with just under $900,000 in cap space, a player on an entry-level contract seems like the lone possibility to fill the role.
Forward Riley Barber is hoping he’s that guy. The 22-year-old is coming off of his first professional season, a successful season for Barber personally, as he finished with 26 goals and 29 assists in 74 games for the Hershey Bears.
It was a grind of a season for Barber. Just the year before, Barber had played collegiate hockey at Miami (Ohio) University, where the standard season runs about 40 games. But after a lengthy playoff run, where the Bears lost in the Calder Cup Final to the Lake Erie Monsters, Barber’s workload more than doubled to a 91-game season. The uptick in games not only introduced Barber to the rigors of a professional workload, but it also provided Barber ample opportunities to continue to grow and study the game.
“I learned a lot last year, how to play the game the right way,” Barber said. “Coming from college, playing 35 games to going and playing almost 100 last year is a huge difference, but it’s also a huge learning curve for yourself. Just to pick up certain things on the older guys, kind of learn the game their kind of way.”
Now, Barber is in the midst of training camp without some of those older guys. With the World Cup of Hockey plucking nine of Washington’s top players, more opportunities are present for guys such as Barber to make a mark in camp.
Barber participated in the Capitals’ 2-1 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, and got a healthy amount of ice time. Barber, primarily flanking NHLers Daniel Winnik and Brad Malone, saw 14:20 minutes of ice time, including 3:34 minutes on the power play.
“It’s huge,” Barber said. “This opportunity hasn’t come in a long time for young guys like us. I think that we could have an enhanced role throughout the whole training camp, which would be awesome.”
Barber is very much a student of the game, hungry to improve and develop his game. The NHL is slowly developing as a whole of its own to a more speed-oriented style of play. With the Pittsburgh Penguins relying heavily on quick-paced hockey, especially within their bottom-six unit, on their way to the Stanley Cup and the North American team making waves in the World Cup with their aggressive, urgent up-and-down play, speed is becoming one of the most powerful tools in the NHL. Barber recognizes that and wants to make sure he’s ahead of the curve.
“I definitely focused on getting faster,” Barber said. “I worked with a track coach for a month or two. It was a short summer, but I tried to get as much as I could in. I think I can definitely feel better on the ice and faster, stuff like that.”
Barber isn’t the only Capital forward with this NHL opportunity. Prospects Jakub Vrana, Travis Boyd, Zach Sanford and Nathan Walker all had great years and continue to impress in camp. Should Barber not make the team, he will continue to develop in Hershey as one of the Bears’ top forwards.
But with such an opportunity ever present to Barber, he works through training camp with an ease of mind. Last year, he had been recovering from a torn MCL, and he admitted he was a bit stressed during camp.
Barber recognizes that it is no mistake that he is in this position, and he knows that all he can do is put his best effort forward.
“I think you have to take in the same attitude that you do to anything else,” he said of his situation. “I think you just got to play your game and focus on that.
“What got you here is the reason why you are still here,” he said. “Just try to do those things the best that you possibly can.”
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