Caps prospect Cody Eakin has impressed team officials early at rookie development camp this week. The 19-year-old arrived in great shape and coach Bruce Boudreau noted his overall speed and skill when talking to reporters on Monday.
But no matter how impressed they are with Eakin – here or at training camp in September – it won’t matter for the 2010-11 season. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound center is headed back to Swift Current of the Western Hockey League to finish out his junior career. That’s not necessarily where he belongs. But Eakin, who only turned 19 on May 24, is too young to play in the AHL for Hershey. Unless he shocks everyone and wins a roster spot with the Caps he’ll go back to junior and continue his development.
“I don’t think it’s the end of the world,” Eakin said after a practice on Monday at Kettler Iceplex. “I’m still young and I think one more year at Swift Current will really help me out off ice and on ice. I think we’re going to have a really a strong team so it’s going to be fun.”
A third-round pick in 2009, Eakin was coming off a nice 24-goal season when Washington picked him No. 89 overall. But he opened some eyes by scoring 47 goals last season, tied for third in the entire WHL. He’s intent on building a two-way game, noting that most skilled players at the AHL and NHL levels can score goals already. Another goal for the Winnipeg, Manitoba native: making the final roster for Canada’s world junior team. Eakin was one of the final cuts last winter from that prestigious squad, which was famously taken out in the gold-medal game by the United States and current Caps defenseman John Carlson.
To that end, Eakin is using rookie camp as a building block. Canadian officials are conducting a world junior tryout camp beginning Aug. 3 in Newfoundland. Eakin will again push for a spot and should be a key player on a stacked team at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo this December. That will provide a nice challenge for a red-headed kid who was good enough to get playing time for Hershey in the spring on its way to another AHL title. Eakin appeared in four regular season games with the Bears – “I was thrown right into the snake pit,” he cracked – and scored two goals. The first one came after a faceoff win by teammate Jay Beagle, deflecting off two Syracuse players. Eakin played in five playoff games on the fourth line and earned a ton of quality experience in practice with Hershey, which had one of the great seasons in AHL history.
“It did help when guys are dancing around the blueline and things like that – that’s how they play and it works for them,” Eakin said. “Not every team is going to be like that. But it was definitely like ‘Okay, this is how it’s done.’”
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