{"id":76765,"date":"2025-07-20T01:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T01:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/76765\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T01:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T01:09:08","slug":"andrew-cristall-has-begun-his-summer-training-with-connor-bedard-kent-johnson-beck-malenstyn-and-other-nhl-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/76765\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Cristall has begun his summer training with Connor Bedard, Kent Johnson, Beck Malenstyn, and other NHL players"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Cristall<\/strong> is back in a pair of skates just a few weeks after completing his third development camp with the Washington Capitals. The 20-year-old winger has begun his summer training in British Columbia with Kaivo Hockey alongside a handful of BC-based NHL players, including Connor Bedard<\/strong>, Kent Johnson<\/strong>, and former Caps forward Beck Malenstyn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Cristall can be seen on the training program\u2019s Instagram account participating in drills and scoring a beautiful breakaway goal in a small-sided game<\/a>. Other notable players attending the workout sessions include Luca Cagnoni, Zach Benson, and Gage Goncalves.<\/p>\n

Cristall has regularly worked out during summers with Bedard and Johnson, even playing roller hockey together on the Great Guys\u00a0of the\u00a0North Shore Inline Hockey League<\/a>. Bedard, the 2023 first-overall draft selection, and Cristall, a 2023 second-round pick of the Capitals, have known each other since they were about six years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe met up playing spring hockey for the Vancouver Vipers,\u201d Cristall said in 2023<\/a>. \u201cThe friendship kind of started from there, and then we started playing each other in Bantam. We\u2019re rivals and then teammates in the spring. So we\u2019ve kind of just grown up together, throughout hockey, and now we\u2019re with each other all the time in the summer, so it\u2019s pretty nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bedard has previously spoken<\/a> about how Cristall is \u201cprobably the smartest hockey player\u201d he has ever played with. Cristall will be looking to join Bedard in the NHL this upcoming season after he was one of the final cuts from the Capitals\u2019 training camp last fall.<\/p>\n

Cristall dominated the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets and Spokane Chiefs during the 2024-25 season, taking home the Bob Clarke Trophy as the league\u2019s leading scorer with 132 points (48g, 84a) in 57 games<\/a>. He followed that up with an equally dominant playoff run for the Chiefs, finishing with 41 points (21g, 20a) in 19 postseason games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to come in, if he has a camp like last camp, it\u2019s going to be hard on the coaching staff to not keep him on their NHL team,\u201d Caps GM Chris Patrick said of Cristall last month<\/a>. \u201cAnd if he\u2019s not up here, he\u2019s down in Hershey and getting adjusted to pro hockey. I think we\u2019re going to see Andrew playing NHL games sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cristall will come to camp and\u00a0battle with other prospects, including Ivan Miroshnichenko<\/a>, Bogdan Trineyev, Henrik Rybinski, and Ilya Protas, to fill whatever holes are left on the club\u2019s roster. If he can\u2019t crack the NHL lineup again, he\u2019ll likely make his pro debut in the AHL with the Hershey Bears.<\/p>\n

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