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With the No. 8 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, the Washington Capitals selected Ryan Leonard. Follow our live NHL Draft blog for analysis from all our writers and columnists.

PLYMOUTH, Mich. — It’s 7:30 a.m. on a Friday, and Ryan and John Leonard are in the same place they always are on that day, at that time, from late spring to late summer: doing their weekly speed and explosiveness workout in a gym in Springfield, Mass.

Lined up in front of them is the morning’s circuit: a belt squat, into an earthquake bar movement, into a box jump.

Ryan has just messed it up for a third time.

“Hey, do you understand?” his strength coach Christian Ferrara asks him each time.

“Yes coach, yes coach, yes coach,” he answers.

When he gets it wrong a fourth time, Ferrara blows a fuse.

“Listen, if you don’t want to do this just grab your stuff and go home! Maybe you’re not ready for this! Everybody talks so highly about you but in reality, to me you just look like you’re a lazy punk kid!” he shouts at him.

That was three years ago. Ryan, then 15, was a star hockey player at Pope Francis Prep School who’d never really trained before but needed to prepare for USA Hockey’s national development program. He was in the gym with Ferrara and John — by then college hockey’s leading goal scorer and on his way to the NHL with the Sharks — because John and his Western Massachusetts buddies had vouched for him to join their group much earlier than Ferrara would normally be comfortable with.

“He’s like a little brother to us, we’re going to him under our wing,” they — a group that also includes longtime NHL forward Frank Vatrano and Leafs goalie prospect Keith Petruzzelli, among others — had pleaded.

When that first workout was over, John pulled Ferrara aside.

“Chris, you’re the first person to ever light him up like that,” he told him.

After that moment, a switch flipped.

“Every workout since has been everyone else trying to catch up to him,” Ferrara said on a recent call. “I have to give it to the kid for being so young because he attacked every workout like it was his last.”

Today, Leonard is the No. 4-ranked prospect on NHL Central Scouting’s midterm rankings of the top North American skaters eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft. He’s going to be a first-round pick. The only question is how high. When scouts watch him, they consider top 10, or top 15, or top 20.

He might also be the strongest prospect in the class. When you run into him in the halls of USA Hockey Arena, you can feel it in a handshake and see it in his shoulders.

“He’s a specimen,” Ferrara said. “He’s completely way in advance of where any kid his age should typically be.”

And his game on the ice reflects his strength off of it. He’s a force of nature. When asked, everyone uses the same word to describe him: Power.

Patrick Tabb is an assistant coach with American International College (AIC) men’s college hockey program. He also runs a summer skate at Olympia Ice Center in Western Springfield once Ferrara’s morning workouts are done.

When he’s asked on a recent phone call if the 17-year-old Ryan can hang with his pro group, he scoffs. He has been able to hang since 15 when Tabb moved him from a group of his peers to the pro skate. Now Tabb finds himself tailoring drills so that Ryan’s not dominating guys like Vatrano all the time.

In a one-on-one battle last summer against Peter Crinella, a 26-year-old, 6-foot-2, nearly 200-pound forward who is now playing for the Guildford Flames in Britain’s EIHL after several seasons in the AHL and ECHL, Ryan “sent Pete flying.”

Ryan has always been that competitor. According to Tabb and John, that chip on his shoulder has a lot to do with where he comes from.

“He has always had a target on his back because he always played up a year in Mass., and he has always been that Western Mass kid where in Massachusetts, once you cross Exit 9 on the Mass Pike it’s like a different world when it comes to hockey because they don’t think it exists and Boston supposedly dominates the game,” Tabb said.

“He would go out to Boston and if you live in Springfield you have to travel an hour and a half to get to any legitimate competition, and he would always have a target on his back. We have so much pride in the 413. So much. That’s our area. Like Frank, Keith, John, myself. We train together. There’s no need for Ryan to go outside of Western Mass to train in the summer and get better, and we’ve proven it across the board with all of our guys.”

John says that where they come from has as much to do with their success as what they’ve put into it.

“There’s six pros that are in the gym and on the ice with him every single day and from a personal standpoint I try to be a good role model and show him the habits that guys taught me when I was that age. But him being able to be around those types of players on a daily basis is a pretty cool thing for him,” John said. “I don’t think every kid gets the ability to do that with where they’re from, but Western Mass is a pretty special place.”

On top of where he comes from, Ryan’s also the byproduct of a family of athletes, with a stocky, 190-pound build to show for it. His dad, John Sr., was drafted in the 1982 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks as a guard who averaged 18.3 and 15.1 points per game in his last two years of college basketball at Manhattan College. He later coached basketball at UMass before becoming a principal at an alternative school in Chicopee, Mass. Both of Ryan’s sisters, Brianna and Alyssa, played Division III college basketball themselves. Alyssa now works at Vanderbilt and Briana has followed the family’s matriarch, Cindy, into nursing. John, after playing 58 NHL games for the Sharks across two seasons, is in his first season with the Milwaukee Admirals, the AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators.

Though he played basketball growing up, Ryan fell into hockey following John to the rink. Cindy got her eldest son into the sport after she saw a sign for the learn-to-skate program at UMass.

His strength isn’t just about genetics, though. It’s also about how he was raised.

When he first came to Tabb a couple of summers before he started with Ferrara, Ryan’s singular focus was to pull himself out of his age group to make the U17 team at the national program.

The first two things Tabb noticed in their first skate together were:

1. That he could already move to the second or third step he had planned for his training and;

2. He was already stopping on the pucks he started each drill with. Ever since then, he has been insistent on skating four days a week for at least an hour and a half to two hours.

“You mess up an individual skill drill, he starts it over on his own,” Tabb said. “He already had that at 13-14 years old.”

Tabb believes that comes “from an unbelievable family.”

Ryan says it comes from being the youngest of four where everything in their childhood home in Amherst, Mass., was competitive, from card games and board games, to mythologized road hockey games that ended with the gloves dropping, to shooting competitions (in hockey or basketball) in the driveway, or even who got the TV remote.

“We’ve always been fighting over pretty much anything,” Ryan said with a smile.

Ferrara believes it comes from the example John set.

“He respects John. He puts John on a pedestal. Like ‘That’s my big brother, he has shown me the ropes.’ But when it gets going, it’s like they’re enemies. It’s like ‘no, it’s go time.’ And then all of a sudden the energy revs up and all of the boys start going,” Ferrara said. “Because those two brothers aren’t going to let anyone outwork them. John has groomed him exactly how he needed to be. So hats off to John but also hats off to Ryan for respecting him the way he does. He’s very quiet, very humble, very respectful. ‘Yes sir, no sir.’ When he comes in here he goes to work. ‘I’m here for a reason, I’m going to do what I’m here to do, and that’s it.’ He looks the part, he plays the part, and he practices the part.”

Ryan credits John, too.

“Anything I need, I can ask (John) for help or just how he has gotten through it. He’s there for me. He has gone through tough times with his career and he has a lot of experience because of it,” Ryan said. “He’s my biggest role model.”

The respect is mutual. There was a time, because of their six-year age gap, that they weren’t actually super close after John moved away for hockey and Ryan was too young to have a cell phone to stay in touch. But as they both got older, and they began to train and skate together, they grew inseparable.

“We just got closer, and closer, and closer and now it’s a pretty special thing we have,” John said on a recent call after an Admirals practice. “He means the world to me. I’m excited to see what he does in the future. It’s a pretty cool thing to be able to wake up every day in the summer and be able to train with him.”

In their skates, Tabb runs an “old school approach” where the drills are about competitive game scenarios rather than individual skills. Ryan feasts in that setting.

“Him and his brother just go at it. It’s unbelievable. It’s fierce. It’s all out,” Tabb said. “I’ve seen Ryan leave the rink not speaking to anybody after losing a day … but it stays at the rink and he’ll show up the next day at the rink smiling and ready to go.”

In recent summers, when they aren’t in the gym or on the ice together, they’re usually golfing together. Ryan gets the better of his big brother there, too.

“I never golfed at a very young age and he has been playing for a long time. He’s a low handicap so I’ll take my strokes off of him every day of the week. But I’m climbing up to him and he doesn’t like to admit it, so be sure to mention that,” John said with a laugh.

Ryan’s always been that way: a natural at almost anything he tries.

“Nobody has found anything that he’s not the best at except fishing,” Tabb said. “He does not have the patience for fishing. But he can go on the golf course and hit the best ball and just crush it to help you win a foursome, baseball he’ll dominate, it’s unbelievable.”

From his very first skate in Plymouth with the national program, everyone knew Ryan was a step further down the development path than his peers.

He could feel it — the strength when he would lean on his new teammates — in their first practices.

Dan Muse, the head coach for his 2005 age group, could see it too.

“His physical maturity enhances that bulldog game that he plays. He’s a powerful player, he’s a powerful skater, he’s powerful physically. His game drives and leads with power. He’s got a great shot, whether it’s from distance or from in tight he positions himself well there, but all parts of his game really drive off of that (build),” Muse said.

But he wasn’t just stronger, he was also more competitive. Though Muse felt he had a “really competitive group” to work with, Ryan was a tone-setter even within them.

“I think (with) Ryan Leonard it doesn’t matter whether you’re on the ice, in the weight room, or playing tic-tac-toe against him, he’s going to do everything within his power to beat you,” Muse said. “That’s in his DNA. That’s who he is.”

Before long in his time at the program, he was playing up with the U18 team. At year’s end, his 36 games played with the 2004 age group were the most by a 2005-born player, punctuated by a five-goal, six-point performance in six games at under-18 worlds in Germany as an underager.

This season, in his second year at the program, he has played on the U18 team’s top line with fellow Boston College commits Will Smith and Gabe Perreault, since Day 1. Heading into Monday’s BioSteel All-American Game showcasing the top U.S.-born players in the upcoming draft, Ryan had scored 23 goals and 44 points in just 30 games. Then he added a 24th in his 6-3 win with Team Blue over Team White on Monday.

He says Smith and Perreault are his playmakers, and he’s their physical, go-getter two-way power forward and finisher.

For that reason, the Eagles staff can’t wait to get their hands on him.

“He’s a big, strong kid and he’s got a little bit of a mean streak in him, which I like. He loves to rip pucks and he’s powerful, and he’ll go and finish hits, and he’s going to the net. He’s the sandpaper, the guy who can get in there and be the physical guy who can also rip it,” said Brendan Buckley, BC’s associate head coach (who has been watching Ryan for years because he’s got a nephew who is a 2005).

John, Ferrara and Tabb can’t wait to see what he does in college hockey and beyond in the NHL — a place they have no doubt he’s getting to.

“He was put on this earth to play hockey,” Ferrara said. “And it’s starting to show now. I think whoever gets him is getting a special kid. He deserves it, man. He’s such a good kid.”

John can see it more and more whenever he gets to see his little brother.

“Every time I see him he seems to get a little bigger. I’ll guarantee that the next time I see him he’ll probably be close in size to me now,” John said.

When Tabb had an opportunity in his own schedule at AIC to watch the national team play Yale at the end of November, he saw an NHL player.

“He laid some heavy hits against men,” Tabb said of that game, in which Ryan registered a goal and five shots. “I’ve seen him push those guys back on their heels. And (Petruzzelli) can tell you how heavy Ryan’s shot is, too. He can skate, he’s strong, he can shoot it. (And) he might be the last man out of the zone in the D-zone, but hey he’s getting up there and he’s getting into scoring areas. That’s what I like about him.

Ryan Leonard has yet to match the offensive output he had in college hockey at Boston College.

The two-time 30-goal scorer in the NCAA has just one goal, an empty netter, through 18 combined NHL preseason, regular season, and playoff games.

According to Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery, the lack of production has been weighing on Leonard. Carbery spoke about the Capitals’ prized winger ahead of giving him a second preseason game against the New Jersey Devils.

“I think Lenny has been solid, I would say,” Carbery said Saturday. “I know the finish and the scoring and the offensive stuff – I’m trying to steer him away from that stuff. I get it. That comes with being a highly-touted Hobey Baker finalist, with all the accolades and what he’s done. You expect production, and that’s not what I’m expecting and hoping. There’s things inside of his game that I want to try to help him ingrain these habits.”

Carbery’s more personal approach with Leonard, aimed at alleviating some pressure from the rookie, comes just a few days after an EA Sports NHL 26 simulation predicted he would win two Hart Trophies and score over 600 career goals. An incredulous Leonard joked that he’s “got enough s*** already” about the viral social media posts.

Leonard would have notched a point last Thursday in Hershey against the Philadelphia Flyers, but had an assist stolen from him by the on-ice officials who missed a Vincent Iorio goal during the third period. The Massachusetts native slid a pass to Iorio, who roofed the puck behind goaltender Alexei Kolosov.

“He wants to produce like Macklin Celebrini,” Carbery said. “I know that’s a high comparison, but it’s no different, right? All these guys, whether they’re a power forward like Tom Wilson or they’re a smooth, skilled, skating (player) – they want to produce. They want to score. They want to help the team win production-wise. And so that’s where I’m working with him on trying not to measure his game by goals and assists or by the box score solely.”

Instead of trying to be someone else, Carbery would rather have the former eighth overall draft pick lean more into being himself: one of the most unique young physical players in the league.

“One thing that I’ll draw you to is Ryan Leonard, different than a lot of guys that come out of major junior, even college, that are point producers,” Carbery said. “There’s a lot of guys that get a lot of accolades that are what I would call very highly-skilled but also very perimeter players. What I mean by that is they’ve got the hands, they’ve got the skating, they’ve got the toe drags, and they’re phenomenal.

“Leno’s different than that. Leno, and why he’s going to have a long successful NHL career, is he has that but he also has this physicality, this power forward, this guy that’s going to finish checks, that’s going to go to the net front, that’s going to win puck battles, that’s going to take a puck hard to the net, and he can shoot it. It’s harder at the NHL level because now to do that, to be a power forward, to be Matthew Tkachuk, to be Tom Wilson, you’re going up against 6’4″, 250-pound, 30-year-old men. And so for him, it’s going to take time growing into that, for him to develop and be able to control those spaces and be able to hang in those [areas].”

With Leonard being waivers-exempt and early in his entry-level contract with the Capitals, the team’s top brass will need to consider whether they can afford to give Leonard time to develop at the NHL level. There are other players on the roster, such as Sonny Milano and Hendrix Lapierre, who have come out firing to begin training camp and must be put on waivers to be sent down to the Hershey Bears — something that carries risk due to the likelihood of them being claimed.

“He needs to continue to push the envelope and play well in these last games that he gets,” Carbery said.

Sunday afternoon’s matchup with the Devils will provide Leonard with his best chance yet to impress this fall, as he’s set to line up on the Capitals’ top line with Aliaskei Protas and his current housemate, Pierre-Luc Dubois. The two 60-point forwards from last season are play drivers and will likely give Leonard an opportunity to showcase his game.

Considering their hometown and family background, John and Ryan Leonard of Amherst would appear to be unlikely hockey prospects.

But to hear the brothers speak of their dedication and how they push each other despite a seven-year age difference gives an insight into their tremendous success.

“Of course we have a friendly brotherly rivalry, especially in the basement,” John said. “We play down there almost every night. At first it starts off with no contact, but that doesn’t last long. It becomes physical really quick. But it’s all fun and helps improve each of our games.”

These informal pick-up sessions have served to improve their stick-handling, shooting and other skills.

“I always want to work as hard as John,” Ryan said.

Following a summer during which they left the country to showcase their ability, that hard work and enhanced talent have put the brothers in the position to embark on their next challenge on the ice.

After a stellar three-year career at Cathedral, 17-year-old John is playing for the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League, the premier junior league based in the United States.

Ten-year-old Ryan appears on the same track as his big brother. He starts with the Springfield Rifles junior team this fall. John suited up for the New England Junior Falcons before moving on to the Rifles.

Last season, Ryan skated a year up for his elite youth team and was named player of the week three times.

Despite having the same genes and a fairly similar skill set as forwards, the brothers are far from identical on the ice.

“I’ve always enjoyed the fast pace of hockey,” John said. “I don’t think any other sport can match it in that respect. It’s fun every time you step on the ice. The game’s changed my life and I’m so glad I started.”

Ryan countered, “I like to hit people. That’s the part of the game I like the best. I just think hockey is more competitive than other sports.”

Their mutual affinity for the game only strengthens their relationship, which will see them apart for the first time.

“I’ll definitely call him during the week, before games or after games,” John said. “We can always tell each other how things are going, whether it’s hockey, school, friends, anything.”

Breaking away from basketball

The boys’ father, John Sr., was drafted by the New York Knicks in the early 1980s and is a former assistant basketball coach at UMass. His daughters, Alyssa and Brianna, both starred on the court for Amherst Regional and played in college.

But first John, then Ryan broke away from the family game to forge their own paths.

“They’re totally different from Alyssa and Brianna, which is great. It makes things interesting,” John Sr. said. “Hockey has set up John with great opportunities, including a chance to get into a good college. Ryan’s still a ways away from that, but hopefully he can also advance a long way in the game.”

It started when their mother, Cynthia, saw a flyer at the Mullins Center for a learn to skate program.

“I was 4, too young to start basketball, so my mom signed me up,” John said. “I quickly fell in love with it and starting playing with the mites team in Amherst. I just kept advancing in the game.”

John Sr. said hockey’s become his thing, too. He travels to all their games and managed his sons’ respective teams last season.

“My wife wanted John to get involved in a sport. It was good for me because it was in the same building as my job. But I never had any idea these guys would take it this far,” he said. “I didn’t know much about hockey at the time, but now I definitely consider myself a hockey guy. It’s a lot of fun, and everyone we’ve associated with has been great.”

Ryan simply sought to follow in the blade marks of his older brother.

“I kind of just copied John,” Ryan said. “I went to play basketball but didn’t like it too much. Maybe our dad would be a little happier if we played the same sport, but he’s let us do our own thing.”

But John and Ryan haven’t completely eschewed the original family sport. The three Leonard men will still shoot some hoops in the driveway.

“I’ll mess with him a little bit, telling him I’m better,” John said. “But he’s extremely supportive in everything we do. We couldn’t ask for a better dad.”

Sensational summer

Both Leonard brothers were chosen to participate in tournaments of high renown this summer.

Ryan was recruited by the Junior Bruins to join the squad for a few tournaments, including the prestigious Brick Tournament in Edmonton, Alberta. Most of his teammates were from eastern Massachusetts.

For Ryan, who was advanced enough to play with 8-year-olds at age 5, the experience proved a considerable challenge and the thrill of his young career.

“That was my first plane ride, too,” he said. “In that tournament, everyone was as good as me and my teammates. The competition was great, and we played against older kids before the Brick to prepare.”

Meanwhile, John traveled to Slovakia and the Czech Republic for the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup. In four games, he had a goal and an assist as Team USA finished fifth.

“I’d been to a few USA tryouts and camps, but this was the first time I was able to go overseas to represent my country,” John said. “It was such an honor to play in the tournament. I couldn’t have asked for a better chance against the best players in the world my age. And we had a great group of guys, so I had a lot of fun.”

He added, “It was the most high-paced game I’ve experienced, so I saw what I have to learn to adjust and get bigger and stronger.”

To Green Bay and back

John left for training camp in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at the end of August. He made it through the last round of five cuts and started the season Saturday.

“It’s definitely a different experience. It’s the first time I’m away from my family for this long a time,” he said. “But I’m here looking to improve all aspects of my game and prepare for the collegiate level.”

College hockey will bring John back to Amherst as early as 2016. He committed to play at UMass before his junior year at Cathedral, but he could play in Green Bay until he’s 20.

“He’s going to play in the USHL, and that’s great,” Ryan said. “But we’re excited that he’s coming back to play five miles away for college.”

Green Bay selected John in the fourth round of the 2015 USHL draft.

“John puts a ton of effort into it. It’s awesome to see him rewarded to this point,” John Sr. said.

The future

As one of the top high school players in the state who’s competed against high-end talent most of his career, John knows hockey and is in a good position to judge talent.

So when asked to compare himself with his little brother, the response was telling.

“Ryan will probably be better,” he said. “I think he’s quicker and has a harder shot than I did at his age.”

But Ryan quickly jumped in, saying, “Because John taught me so much.”

There was likewise no hesitation when asked their ultimate hockey goal.

“Going to the NHL,” Ryan said.

“Same,” John said. “There’s obviously a lot of work left to go, but the USHL is a big step in that direction. Hopefully he’ll be able to get there, too. It would be pretty cool.”

John appeared on the NHL Central Scouting preseason “players to watch” list, which was released Tuesday. He was tabbed as a C-rated prospect, projecting as a potential fourth-to-sixth round selection in the 2016 NHL Draft.

While John’s professional aspirations could possibly be realized soon, Ryan is still at the point of getting the most enjoyment out of playing. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t focused.

“I just want to get better in the years before high school,” Ryan said. “I’d also like to follow John in trying out for Team USA.”

But no matter where each of their careers ends up, John Sr. is thrilled to see his boys pursue their passion.

It does not matter what Ryan Leonard is playing, he wants to win.

The same competitiveness that has excited NHL teams and made him a likely top 10 pick in Wednesday’s NHL draft showed up early on. From hockey to board games, Leonard puts in 100 percent effort. The game does not matter. When Leonard puts his mind on winning, the only thing he can think about is being No. 1.

“We’re a competitive family,” his mother Cindy Leonard said. “Like even when you play a game, the people in this family want to win. It’s not a low-key game of Monopoly or Sorry, or Connect Four or anything, it’s always with the intention to win. Don’t play unless you think you’re gonna win, don’t play a game not caring. Second place isn’t good enough.”

If Leonard doesn’t win? Everyone in the room has to play the game again until he wins. The possibility of a fight breaking out is high if a game is on the table.

Growing up in Amherst, Leonard constantly had to deal with being the youngest of his three other siblings. This meant that Leonard was the most likely to get the brunt of some fights with them.

“It’s a hostile environment that’s for sure,” Leonard said. “Anything you could really name, kind of goes, punches, anything like that. You’re definitely going to expect that. But yeah, games are pretty intense.”

Ryan’s sisters Brianna and Alyssa played basketball while John, who is six years older, has always played hockey and is currently in the Nashville Predators system after starring at UMass.

Ryan played other sports before choosing hockey as his priority. He played Little League baseball and soccer along with hockey as a kid. Then, when Leonard went to Pope Francis, he picked up golf for a year and also added lacrosse.

While he picked up on all sports quickly, he excelled most at hockey. He learned to skate before turning four and has thrived ever since.

“His balance was already there,” Cindy said. “He kind of didn’t even need the bucket that helps kids balance.”

At 8, Leonard started to become more consumed with hockey as his schedule built up.

Leonard competed against players years older than him and also started to travel for games. In kindergarten, Leonard played with the third graders because he learned faster than the rest of the kids.

“I feel like I matured a little bit easier,” Leonard said. “I mean, dealing with an older brother too, that also helped. Yeah, I think playing up my whole life helped me mature.”

Leonard set a goal to make USA Hockey’s National Team Development program, a team where many NHL stars including the Tkachuk brothers, Trevor Zegras, Cole Caufield and Austin Matthews got their start. A year later he got the good news that he earned a spot on the team.

“It’s pretty special,” Leonard said. “Me and my dad looked at each other and smiled right away and knew that it was actually real now. So, yeah it was pretty cool to share that moment with them and we gave my mom and everybody else a phone call right away.”

So, Leonard packed his bags and moved 650 miles from Amherst to Plymouth, Michigan. In one season and 57 games under his belt, Leonard put up 51 goals and 43 assists. Leonard will not give himself full credit. He played on the top line with two players that are also expected to go high in the draft, Will Smith and Gabe Perreault.

“Those guys are pretty special,” Leonard said. “You’ll see that with their whole careers as tremendous players. They make my job pretty easy.”

The NTDP not only prepared Leonard for on the ice, but also off it. Moving halfway across the country he had to learn how to grow up and live away from his parents. The program also prepared him for the draft.

“The development program helps them tremendously,” Cindy said. “They talk about how to behave off the ice as well as on the ice. What’s the way to conduct yourself, how you speak to reporters and speak to coaches and general managers and scouts. He’s had a lot of experience with interviews and the national program has certainly developed him in that respect.”

Those skills have helped Leonard through the NHL Draft process. He has been projected to go in the top 10. He knows that when he is drafted he’ll have more work to do, going to Boston College in the fall.

“All those teams are special,” Leonard said. “Lucky enough to go anywhere, to be top 10 is an honor but it’s just what happens after. Anybody can go top 10, it’s just if you can go pro after.”

Leonard promised whoever selects him will get the same intensity his family saw in Monopoly.

Long before U.S. National Team Development Program right winger Ryan Leonard became a top NHL draft prospect, he was his older brother John’s shooter tutor.

John, who is six years Leonard’s senior and played in the Nashville Predators’ organization last season, used to drag his brother downstairs to the basement of their childhood home in Amherst, Mass., for target practice. Leonard tossed on the goalie gear and cowered in net as John fired tennis balls at his head, determined to make his younger brother see fuzzy, lime spheres in his nightmares. When John’s friends came over, the volume of tennis balls aimed at Leonard increased exponentially.

“I wanted him to be a goalie,” John explained to The Inquirer. “It’s a good thing he didn’t pick goalie, I guess.”

Draft prospect Ryan Leonard, left, and his older brother John, right, train together in the offseason in Springfield, Massachusetts.

But Leonard never sustained more than a few bruises to his body or his ego. As the youngest of four siblings — including two older sisters, Alyssa by 13 years and Brianna by 11 — Leonard thrived off the seemingly endless ribbing and competition. He could take it and give it back, besting his siblings in fierce matches of Connect 4 and cornhole.

Those basement battles and sibling rivalries jumpstarted his competitive motor and translated to each phase of hockey, whether he was playing up an age group at the youth level or training with his brother and other hockey pros in the offseason as a 16-year-old. That unyielding drive has become a hallmark of Leonard’s game, catapulting him into the top-10 conversation at the draft on June 28 and making him an intriguing fit for the Flyers at No. 7.

“It kind of made me the competitor I am,” Leonard said. “If I wasn’t really picked on as a kid, being the youngest of four, even picked on even worse now being the youngest in the training group, I don’t think I’d be the person I am.”

Hockey over hardwood

Hockey isn’t in the Leonard family’s DNA. Patriarch John Leonard Sr. was a 10th-round pick of the New York Knicks in 1982 and was an assistant coach of the men’s basketball teams at Villanova from 1992-96 and at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst from 2001-05.

The basketball and hockey teams share a facility on UMass’ campus so John Sr. and his wife Cindy signed John Jr. up to learn to skate because it was the most convenient activity available during basketball season. A few years after Leonard was born, his parents stuffed him in skates and sent him out on the ice at UMass with an upside-down bucket to help him stay upright.

“They just kind of put me on the ice and said, ‘Have fun,’” Leonard said.

John Jr. and Leonard also played basketball growing up, just like John Sr., Alyssa, and Brianna did, with the sisters each playing in college. But the brothers never solely focused on basketball, which coincided in the winter with hockey season. Leonard grew fixated on hockey, enamored with skating and scoring goals. He especially enjoyed the physical nature of the sport compared to basketball.

While excelling in the youth hockey ranks, Leonard first realized he wanted to pursue hockey long-term at age 10 when he competed at the esteemed Brick Invitational in Edmonton, Alberta, for the Boston Jr. Bruins against top North American talent.

Ryan Leonard is fresh off a 51-goal season with the U.S. National Team Development Program.

“Kind of [an] eye-opener,” Leonard said. “Parents spent a couple bucks on that trip to make that happen. ... It’s pretty cool and kind of just wanted to keep pursuing that.”

The NTDP kept tabs on Leonard while he played at Pope Francis Preparatory School in Springfield, Mass., extending him an invitation to their 2021 evaluation camp with 48 other Under-17 team hopefuls in Plymouth, Mich.

After the weeklong camp, Leonard was one of the 24 players that made the cut. He recalled being with his father in Plymouth and calling his mother back home to deliver the good news, eager for the opportunity that awaited him.

“Always been a competitive kid,” Leonard said. “But to go against the best kids in the world for two years at your age group and in America, kind of pushed you to become the player you are.”

Terrific trio

Leonard excelled in his first year with the NTDP, playing 26 games with the U17 team (10 goals and 10 assists) and 33 games with the U18 team (12 goals and seven assists). But it was during his second year that he began flying up draft boards.

Head coach Dan Muse teamed the 6-foot, 190-pound Leonard up with center Will Smith and left winger Gabe Perreault at the start of the season to form the program’s top line. Each member of the trio brought their own talents to the table, from Leonard’s compete to Smith’s skill and Perreault’s smarts. All three eclipsed 50 goals — Perreault scored 53 (132 points in 63 games), Smith tallied 51 (127 points in 60 games), and Leonard had 51 (94 points in 57 games).

Leonard flaunted his power game all season long, showcasing his physicality at both ends of the ice. He also exhibited slick hands, unwavering competitiveness, sound skating, and a commitment to playing a solid defensive game. Plus, he possesses a lethal shot, displaying an affinity for attacking and scoring in the dirty areas of the ice.

But he isn’t just a one-dimensional scorer. He also can facilitate plays for his linemates. Skating alongside the skilled Smith and Perreault — both of whom are also expected to be first-round picks — influenced Leonard’s game this season and brought out the playmaker within him. But it was Leonard’s professional approach to the day-to-day grind that impressed Muse the most.

“When you have somebody that’s as competitive as he is, it forces everybody around you to compete even harder,” Muse said. “He doesn’t take any days off. He treats every day like it’s a playoff game. Every practice, every weight session. Everything he does, he just does it at an extremely high level, extremely competitive level.”

The draft year culminated with the U18 World Championship in which Leonard scored the overtime game-winner to help the U.S. earn gold over Sweden. When Leonard skated up the left wing with possession, crossed the blue line into the offensive zone, and cut to the high slot, Perreault already had one leg over the boards before Leonard released the puck.

“I’d seen him score so many goals like that during the year,” Perreault said. “Just when he has the puck on that wall, he always likes to go to the middle like that like he did on the goal.”

‘I’d fit into Philadelphia pretty well’

As evidenced by the U18 World Championship game-winner, big moments don’t faze Leonard. So at the combine in mid-June, Leonard had no problem heeding advice from his older brother, who told him to have fun and be himself in his 20-plus interviews with NHL clubs.

Leonard spoke to general manager Danny Brière and the Flyers scouts at the combine — “It was good vibes,” Leonard said — and will stay in touch with the team leading up to the draft. He understands that his power game and his competitiveness fit the mold of the prototypical Flyer, similar to the style of game that 2022 No. 5 overall pick Cutter Gauthier plays.

“I think I’d fit into Philadelphia pretty well,” Leonard said. “It’s kind of like me and them, [our] identities kind of go well together. But who knows what could happen.”

Ryan Leonard speaks to the media after participating in the NHL draft combine in Buffalo, NY, on June 10, 2023.

Next year, Leonard, Smith, and Perreault will join forces with Gauthier at Boston College. But before that, Leonard and John will train with their pro group in Springfield following the draft.

Leonard’s nerves around the older players, including Anaheim Ducks winger Frank Vatrano, have gradually subsided over the years. He isn’t getting pelted with tennis balls by his older brother anymore, but he still gets an earful in the gym if he messes up an exercise. It’s all in good fun, John said, and all part of Leonard’s journey to the draft stage.

ARLINGTON, V.A. — For Ryan Leonard, his welcome to the NHL moment was an obvious one, as he watched Alex Ovechkin step foot into the Washington Capitals locker room.

"You see the big man walk in, and you're like, 'Holy shit. That's Alex Ovechkin,'" Leonard recalled.

Leonard's first taste of the NHL was a whirlwind, a transition that happened — quite literally — overnight. But for him, Ovechkin and Tom Wilson's leadership, along with the locker room culture, have made the right a lot smoother.

The 20-year-old recalled the experience while participating in the NHLPA Rookie Showcase, sharing how the team has a welcoming and inclusive environment regardless of age or background, with everyone on a level playing field.

"They're including me in everything, like I've been here for five years, 10 years. It doesn't matter what age you are, how long you've been here, everyone's kind of all one over there," Leonard said. "You still have your little moments where you got to do something for your age, but no one will look down at you anyway. That's what you need, a great organization and a great team, and that's what we got."

A lot of that has to do with the captain, as the culture starts with Ovechkin.

"He's still himself, you guys see him, but when it's game time, it's game time, and he'll help you. He'll talk to me on the bench, look at stuff in between periods, computer, iPad on the bench. You guys know he sits in the one spot, so you're going to see him at some point," Leonard said. "He's always talking to you, and he's a great captain."

Wilson, among others, has also stepped up to mentor Leonard, taking him to dinner, keeping in touch with him since the draft and taking him under his wing as he made his NHL debut.

At the end of the day, it's made things a lot less overwhelming. for Leonard, who's looking to make noise as he enters his true rookie year.

Ryan Leonard

There are constantly shifting goalposts when it comes to which qualities NHL teams look for in prospects, depending largely on the ebbs and flows of what is seen to be successful in the playoffs. There is a reason the term “copycat league” exists, because every team is looking for that one prize at the end of the season, so when a formula for getting that prize presents itself, teams will naturally follow it.

Right or wrong, this is how teams think, and the priorities are constantly shifting, as Hughes is well aware.

“The one thing I think we have to always be careful of is putting too much emphasis on a particular playoff,” Hughes said Thursday. “When Pittsburgh was winning, everybody was saying you have to be fast. When Tampa was winning, you had to be skilled. And now, you have two teams who play a physical brand of hockey and you have to be physical. One thing is for sure, you have to be competitive. But does this alter what we do at the draft? No. All the qualities that you look for in a player, they’re not going to change from year to year.”

One thing is for sure.

Not all that much is certain in the scouting process, but having elite competitiveness is something every team is looking for. Much like acquiring big power forwards is very difficult unless you draft them, acquiring players whose level of competitiveness is exceptionally high while also having a high skill level is a trait teams have long looked for, but can be difficult to identify and project. It’s much easier to watch Connor Bedard shoot a puck and identify it as a special skill in the NHL. Or Connor McDavid’s skating. But that package of competitiveness and skill can be elusive and less projectable at lower levels of hockey.

The NHL, and more specifically the playoffs, is so uniquely difficult and physical it is hard to know how an 18-year-old will react to that environment.

Except, on occasion, a player arrives where that projection is made much easier.

Ryan Leonard appears to be that player.

Leonard is not particularly big, measuring in at the combine at just shy of 6-feet and 190 pounds. He’s a strong skater, but it doesn’t necessarily set him apart. His shot is excellent, one USNTDP goaltender Trey Augustine said is among the best on a very good team.

But Leonard’s compete is off the charts.

That trait — elite level compete — is something the Canadiens see as dwindling as the game at lower levels becomes less physical. Players can still emerge out of that environment and compete at the NHL level, it just becomes harder to identify at the amateur level. And when Hughes immediately compared Leonard to Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, you can immediately tell what he thinks of Leonard’s physical game and competitiveness.

Someone else who would know it well is Oliver Moore, Leonard’s teammate at the USNTDP but his frequent opponent in practice. And they would go at it every day as if practice were a championship final.

“He rubbed off on me a lot, and I think a lot of guys on our team can speak to that, off the ice the person he was and the approach that he had to practices and he brought it into games,” Moore said. “He did everything for our team. He’s a leader for a reason.”

That’s not by accident. On the one hand, Leonard simply doesn’t have an off switch. But he’s also trying to make his team better by treating practice the way he does.

“I try to be a leader,” he said. “I try to make the kids around me better. I feel like I’m a pusher in practice, and in games too. I kind of try to set the tone as much as possible. Just try to be a tough guy to play with in practice so that in games, it just kind of comes naturally for everybody.”

Leonard is a goal scorer, with 51 in 57 games with the USNTDP this season, the one caveat being his scoring rate dropped drastically in his USHL games, with 11 goals and 20 points in 17 games. His linemates Will Smith and Gabe Perreault finished 1-2 in the USHL in points per game; Leonard finished 12th.

Leonard scored eight goals and 17 points in seven games at the U18 world championships, finishing third in scoring in both the tournament and on his own line. But in some ways, it is Leonard’s physical play and ability to create space that serves as the line’s catalyst.

“With everything he does,” Perreault said, “for guys like us, it makes our job pretty easy.”

In the gold medal game, with the U.S. down a man in the first minute of overtime, Leonard was killing the penalty when Swedish defenceman Theo Lindstein took a shot from the high slot. Leonard got down on one knee, blocked the shot with his left foot or leg and immediately took off after the puck, getting an excellent chance to end the game.

When he returned to the bench, the leg was in bad shape. He thought he might have to sit for a bit to let the pain subside. He was back on the ice the very next shift. And he scored the golden goal.

“I told them I was fine to go,” Leonard said. “My name got called and then, yeah, game.”

Watching the playoffs, Leonard himself thinks his game resembles Sam Bennett’s more so than his Florida Panthers teammate Matthew Tkachuk.

“He doesn’t really like to dip his toes in the water,” Leonard said of Bennett. “It’s the kind of guy that’s relied on in the team and a big offensive threat too.”

Bennett is a player known for raising his game in the playoffs. Leonard likes to think has the same profile.

“I feel that’s where I thrive,” Leonard said. “It’s what makes the game fun. That’s when you separate yourself from the pack and kind of make some authority out there for yourself.

Something the Canadiens look at intensely is whether a player will be able to handle the pressure-packed environment in Montreal. They consider it vitally important. Talking to Leonard for just a few minutes makes it clear that wouldn’t be a problem.

He was asked Saturday a rather benign question almost every prospect is asked, which is the areas of their game they need to improve. Except Leonard’s answer was not benign.

“I kind of like where I’m at, honestly,” he said. “Just continue to step in every good direction. Just get bigger, faster stronger, get your shot as quick as possible. Become a good leader. That’s just kind of who I am.

ARLINGTON, V.A. — After a whirlwind of a start to his NHL career, Ryan Leonard is looking forward to getting the true rookie experience this year with the Washington Capitals — and he's ready to make the most of it.

The 20-year-old has kept busy in the offseason, using the time away to look back at his short NHL stint last year, where he had just a goal and assist through 17 combined regular-season and playoff games. His biggest takeaway: he wants to "contribute a lot more," and really get to play his game.

“Last year, I was maybe a little bit timid out there. Jumping in, you don’t really want to mess up,” Leonard pointed out. “Everyone tells you to play free, but sometimes, it’s a little bit harder when the stakes are that high.”

Leonard's put on some weight this summer as he continues to get bigger and stronger, and he's also taken a step forward when it comes to his skating. Beyond that, he worked on fine-tuning his shot and focusing on the little details.

"Everything's so much quicker and faster... scoring is obviously tougher," Leonard said, adding, "I'm taking big steps."

For Leonard, the first step is to make the opening night roster; even after making the jump immediately last season, he knows there's still work to be done, and there's no guarantees. Then, from there, he can expand on his game.

"(I want to) play with a lot more confidence," Leonard said, adding, "Just keep getting better and better and more comfortable every single game.”

So far at the Capitals' informal skates, Leonard's been among the standouts thanks to his speed, explosive stride, quick hands and hockey IQ. It's a good sign of things to come as he gets ready for rookie and training camp in the coming weeks, and ultimately, he feels like he's getting a fresh start and a real chance this time around to show what he can do.