How Ethen Frank went from unknown to AHL star and potential Capitals contributor

How Frank went from unknown to AHL star, potential Caps contributor originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

HERSHEY, Pa. -- One of the Capitals' more intriguing prospects was an unknown commodity just one year ago.

Last April, forward Ethen Frank, then a fifth-year player at Western Michigan, signed a one-year contract with Washington's AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears. And in his first season post-college, Frank went from an undrafted free agent to one of the AHL's best goal scorers.

Frank finished the 2022-23 AHL regular season with a team-high 30 goals and 19 assists (49 points), a campaign that caught the eyes of the Capitals organization. Frank's play impressed Washington enough to sign him to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2023-24 season this past March, a deal that will give the 25-year-old a chance to compete in training camp for a spot on the Capitals roster.

Frank's path is hardly the norm, but it's a journey he told NBC Sports Washington he "wouldn't trade for anything else."

"It's been a lot of hard work, a lot of time over the years, a lot of unseen work and a lot of fun," Frank said. "I wouldn't trade it for anything else. It's been a blast on my journey meeting all the people I have and being able to be a part of the teams I've been able to be a part of. It's been a lot of fun."

When Frank arrived at Bears' training camp last fall, his coaches didn't know what to expect initially. It didn't take long for Frank to make an early, strong impression.

"We're talking, just watching [him] at the start of training camp and he was flying," head coach Todd Nelson recalled. "Somebody made a comment, 'This guy can probably score 30 goals in the American League.' We're just up there just like the old guys from The Muppets, right. Somebody else says, 'Well, it's a tough league.'"

Despite Frank never playing in the AHL before this season, the preseason prediction that he'd tally 30 goals came true. In fact, Frank's goal-scoring ability even surprised himself to some degree.

"I set a pretty high standard for myself, probably higher than the team does," Frank said. "I'm trying to push myself every day to get better and to find different ways to help the team succeed. Luckily enough, that's scoring goals. So, it's been a fun time being able to do it. I definitely did probably surprise myself a little bit. But now, I just showed myself what I can do and I intend to improve on that year after year."

Without being a top Junior prospect or a high draft pick, Frank is largely where he is today due to his hard work ethic. That strong desire to get better is something Nelson has picked up on this season, as the Bears' boss called Frank "one of the hardest-working players in practice."

Asked where that strong work ethic stems from, Frank half-jokingly said he gets motivation from watching videos by endurance athlete David Goggins. But truly, he wants to represent himself and his family as best as he can.

"I want to have a good name for my parents and to show that they raised a kid the right way and have a good, hard work ethic," he said. "A lot of emotion goes into it for me, personally."

Despite all the success Frank has had in his first professional season, he reiterated several times his desire to continue to learn, grow and get better. He admitted moving from college hockey straight to the AHL has been a "pretty big jump," so he's taken pride in being a sponge and absorbing as much knowledge as he can from his coaches and more-experienced teammates.

"He's definitely a professional," Bears captain Dylan McIlrath said on Frank. "I know it's his first year pro, but he comes to the rink every day, he prepares like a pro and you obviously see it on the ice. I feel like he had a really consistent season. Even when he wasn't scoring the goals, he was getting a lot of chances. Obviously, pleasantly surprised with his season and hopefully we can have more Ethen Frank goals in the playoffs."

Frank's goal-scoring has yet to translate in the Calder Cup Playoff, but the Bears have been able to generate plenty of offense without their top goal-scorer. Hershey has scored five goals in each of their first two postseason games, both wins, and are just one victory away from moving on to the Atlantic Division finals. Still, the group feels their attack can reach another level, largely due to Frank's presence.

"The good thing for our hockey team is that we haven't seen his best yet in the playoffs," Nelson said. "I think his best is yet to come."

For now, Frank's only focus is playing his best hockey to help lead Hershey on a deep postseason run. And throughout the final stretch run, he hopes to show the Capitals a little bit more of what he's capable of, too.

"[I'm] a fast, hard-working player, smart in the defensive zone, smart on the puck and hard on the puck," Frank said. "The kind of things -- it's kind of cliche -- they are looking for. Hard on the forecheck, hard on the backcheck. There's still lots of learning that needs to be done for me. It's only my first year, but I'm just trying to grow like I've been saying and help the team in any way I can."