Washington Capitals Sign Henry Rybinski
2:05pm: The team has made it official, announcing the three-year entry-level contract that will start in 2022-23.
12:30pm: The Washington Capitals are getting into the CHL free agent forward market, as Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic reports that the team has signed Henry Rybinski from the WHL. Rybinski currently plays for the Seattle Thunderbirds and was originally drafted by the Florida Panthers in 2019. Because he failed to sign a contract with them by last summer, he became a free agent and quickly started to draw interest from around the league.
Today is the first day teams can sign free agent prospects to entry-level contracts that kick in for the 2022-23 season and given his age, Rybinski will be signing a three-year deal. The 20-year-old forward has been outstanding this season for the Seattle Thunderbirds, recording 18 goals and 54 points in 39 games. That’s good enough for 27th in league scoring even though he’s played up to 15 games fewer than some of his competitors.
Rybinski was in Edmonton Oilers development camp last August, and before that had been in camps run by the Panthers. That’s actually where he transitioned back to center, the position he now plays full-time. Adding another center prospect to the pipeline is never a bad thing, and Washington–like Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, who added players today–always needs to refresh the system in ways outside of the draft because of their perennial contender status and trade deadline escapades. There’s still a long road ahead of someone like Rybinski, but when his contract is made official, he’ll be taking a big step.
Free Agent Henry Rybinski Receiving Interest
Generally, the market for free agent junior players isn’t typically strong. Sure, the odd late-bloomer might make it through but more often than not, the more prominent free agents come from the college ranks. However, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column, one CHL free agent that is generating interest is winger Henry Rybinski.
The 20-year-old was actually drafted by Florida back in the fifth round in 2019 (136th overall) but wasn’t signed by June 1st. Now that he’s too old to be drafted again, he can sign as a free agent.
Rybinski is off to a strong start in his final season with WHL Seattle, notching four goals and 11 assists in 13 games with the Thunderbirds. That’s a similar level of production to last season when he had seven goals and 21 helpers in 23 contests which wasn’t enough to get Florida to sign him.
What works in Rybinski’s favor is that Seattle has several quality draft-eligible players; they had four ranked in NHL Central Scouting’s Players to Watch headlined by defenseman Kevin Korchinski who is viewed as a possible first-round pick. That will keep scouts coming to watch the Thunderbirds play and keep Rybinski on the radar as a result.
While some players that sign contracts now have their deals sign a year, that wouldn’t be the case for Rybinski as he’s too old for that option. Meanwhile, if a team wants to sign him and ensure that they have him for three full years in their system, they’ll have to wait until future contracts (beginning the following season) can be signed on March 1st.