Former Rangers 1st-round bust lands 2-year contract with Capitals
Things didn’t exactly work out for Dylan McIlrath on Broadway after he was selected by the New York Rangers in the first round of the 2010 NHL Draft. But more than a decade later, the hulking defenseman has found a role as a depth piece for the first-place team in the Metropolitan Division and signed a two-year, $1.6 million contract with the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
McIlrath joined the Capitals organization prior to the 2021-22 season and has spent most of his time since playing for the Hershey Bears in the American Hockey League. He was Hershey’s captain the past two seasons when they won consecutive Calder Cup championships.
This season, he’s appeared in 11 games with the Capitals, though none since Dec. 23. He played well stepping in for the injured Matt Roy for 10 games from Oct. 15 – Nov. 3, and then was scratched for 22 consecutive games before playing against the Boston Bruins two days before Christmas.
McIlrath hasn’t appeared in a game since, and is expected to be a healthy scratch Thursday for the 38th straight game, when the Capitals visit the Minnesota Wild.
Still, the 32-year-old has been on Washington’s active roster all season. That’s not a bad gig considering his disappointing career arc in the NHL and the fact that he’s on the League’s best team. The Capitals (47-15-9) have 103 points, one better than the Winnipeg Jets for most in the League.
McIlrath has two assists and 14 penalty minutes in 11 games this season. He appeared in three regular-season games with the Capitals last season and dressed for each of their playoff games against the Rangers in New York’s four-game sweep in the first round.
His signing comes three days after the Capitals signed star defenseman Jakob Chychrun to a whopping eight-year, $72 million contract. McIlrath and Chychrun each was a pending unrestricted free agent.
Related: Top NHL free agent defensemen for Rangers to consider after massive Jakob Chrychun contract
Rangers missed by selecting Dylan McIlrath No. 10 overall in 2010 draft
The Rangers selected McIlrath with the No. 10 overall pick in 2010, but he’s played just 86 games in the NHL with the Rangers, Florida Panthers, Detroit Red Wings and Capitals. Two picks later, the Anaheim Ducks selected defenseman Cam Fowler, who’s currently with the St. Louis Blues and played his 1,034th NHL games on Thursday. Among the forwards picked after McIlrath in the first round in 2010 were Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Brock Nelson and Jaden Schwartz.
It wasn’t a wise pick in retrospect, of course. McIlrath has always been a good teammate and feared enforcer, but he was slow and not mobile enough at the NHL level, and that only got worse after he sustained a serious knee injury early in his Rangers career.
McIlrath did play an NHL career-high 34 games with the Rangers in 2015-16. Four seasons later, he appeared in 16 games with the Red Wings.
A feared fighter, McIlrath earned the nickname “The Undertaker” referring to the popular professional wrestler. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound defenseman has 146 penalty minutes in 86 NHL games, including five for a massive heavyweight showdown on Oct. 29 when he bloodied Matt Rempe of the Rangers.
In 618 games in the AHL, McIlrath has 1,204 penalty minutes and 122 points. He had 165 penalty minutes two seasons in a row for Hartford, the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, from 2013-15.
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