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He knows he needs to grow physically–he’s five-foot-10 and 175 pounds – and he has to work on his skating, or, as he once quipped, “get his man legs.”īut he’s optimistic that it won’t take too many years of seasoning before he gets a shot at his own locker in the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. While his fans and family have high hopes that the draftee will earn a berth on the roster when the season opens in October, Cristall is already prepared for the likelihood he will spend 2023-2024 playing for his current team in Kelowna. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Cristall / Instagram) Then it was back home to Vancouver where, on July 7, he sat at his parents’ dining room table and signed his $2.85 million (USD) three-year, entry level contract with his new club.Īndrew Cristall, 18, of Vancouver, signing his first NHL contract after being selected 40th overall by the Washington Capitals during the 2023 NHL draft. After a mandatory hockey tournament, which his team won, they sent a film crew to capture him performing some of his best stickhandling and goal scoring trick shots with the puck.

The team whisked him onto a flight to a private development camp in Arlington, Virginia, where he and the other young players were put through their paces on the ice.Ĭristall then set out to show he has what they are looking for. He also held his first press conference as a prospect.

The rest of the day was a flurry of photoshoots with Cristall posing wearing his new Washington Capitals hockey sweater, emblazoned with his number 28. “You’re going up and down a lot and, you know, it all happens so fast, in the blink of an eye.” “I think it’s definitely like a roller-coaster of emotions,” he recalled. Then, mid-morning on the draft’s second day, Washington Capitals announced their selection of Cristall, who bounded down the stairs of the Nashville arena to don the team’s jersey and shake hands with the general manager and senior front office staff. Watch how Andrew Cristall reacted when Washington selected him in the second round of the NHL Draft on June 29, 2023. Still, his name wasn’t called on the first day, when to no one’s surprise, Connor Bedard-a summer roller-hockey teammate of Cristall’s back home in B.C.-was the draft’s first pick, selected by the Chicago Blackhawks. He was ranked in the top 15 prospects in North America. He was the leading scorer this past season on his junior club, the Kelowna Rockets, with 95 points-despite missing nearly two months due to an undisclosed lower body injury.

The teenager’s whole family was there, nervously waiting to see whether any team would think enough of his hockey abilities. The Washington Capitals selected Cristall as their 40th overall pick in the annual NHL draft on June 29 in Nashville, Tenn. George’s– he previously attended Vancouver’s Talmud Torah elementary school (after winning a Mensch of the Month award in 2014). Andrew’s mother Jodi works at King David High School.Īlthough Andrew chose to attend a private prep school with a strong hockey program– St. “But yeah, maybe I’ll say that now!”Ĭristall, 18, is the son of a prominent Vancouver Jewish family: his father Alex is a real estate developer who leads the fundraising for the current $450 million revitalization of the city’s Jewish community campus on Oak Street. “Yeah, I didn’t realize that,” Cristall said, with a laugh, from his home in Vancouver on July 9. “Right sock, left sock, right knee pad, left knee pad and then right skate, left skate.”īut he doesn’t know why he practises this ritual habit.Īs the only Jewish player out of 224 prospects chosen in last month’s NHL 2023 Draft, doing things from right to left certainly might send a deeply symbolic message to his Jewish fans–especially after The Canadian Jewish News reminded him in our interviewthat Jews read the Torah from right to left. Like many athletes, the forward from Vancouver follows his own personal superstitious routine religiously each time he opens his hockey bag in the dressing room. (Washington Capitals photo)Īndrew Cristall always makes sure he dons his hockey equipment from right to left. Vancouver's Andrew Cristall shows his hockey skills at the Washington Capitals development camp shortly after being selected 40th overall in the NHL 2023 draft.