When the Washington Capitals signed Zach Fucale to a one-year, two-way contract this summer it made for quite the crowded crease in Hershey, the team’s AHL affiliate. With Henrik Lundqvist taking the other spot in the NHL, Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek were penciled into the third and fourth-string spots. Fucale seemed likely to be headed back to the ECHL and today that’s exactly what happened. The Capitals have loaned Fucale to the South Carolina Stingrays.
Fucale, who is still only 25 despite his draft seeming like decades ago, was selected 36th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2013. An elite prospect who dominated at the junior level, winning the Memorial Cup and a gold medal with Canada at the WJC, he was never quite able to replicate that success at the next level.
Still, Fucale is a decorated goaltender on the international stage, winning two Spengler Cups with Canada over the years. For a fifth-string option in Washington, he’s hard to top.
South Carolina starts their season tomorrow with a match against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to kick off the ECHL schedule.
I still remember Craig Button saying that Fucale was the best goalie prospect he’d seen in years.
Hockey’s Matt Millen.