HERSHEY, PA — Minutes after the Charlotte Checkers completed a sweep of the Hershey Bears and advanced to the AHL’s Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday, several members of the Washington Capitals 2024-25 team, including Dylan McIlrath, Ethen Frank, and Ryan Leonard, made their way down from their suite-level seats to the lower level of Giant Center.
While McIlrath and Frank ambled over to the Hershey Bears locker room to say hello to their disappointed former teammates whose quest to three-peat just ended, Leonard had someone special to say hi to on the Checkers side: his older brother John.
John Leonard, a 2018 sixth-round pick of the San Jose Sharks, is in the midst of a career year in the AHL with the Checkers — the Florida Panthers’ AHL affiliate. Named to the 2025 AHL All-Star Game, the 26-year-old Leonard scored a career-high 36 goals and notched 61 points during the regular season.
Leonard’s production continued in the postseason (3g, 3a in 8 games), where he bedeviled the Bears in the Atlantic Division Finals, notching a point in all three of the series’ games. His shorthanded goal late in the third period of Game 1 was the game-winner.
His tally in Game 3, in front of his younger brother Ryan at Giant Center, helped the Checkers complete their three-game sweep.
“Yeah, it was cool, obviously,” John said of having Ryan there to watch his game. “I haven’t seen him in a little bit. Last time I saw him, I was able to fly down for his debut in Boston. So that was awesome for myself and my family to experience. And me and him are super close, talk every day. That was the first game he’s seen me play in a while, so it was awesome.”
Ryan’s NHL debut came on April 1 against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden after his college team, Boston College, had an early exit from the NCAA tournament. Leonard’s family, natives of Amherst, Massachusetts, all attended the game.
Three days later, Leonard scored his first NHL goal against the Chicago Blackhawks, an empty-netter, on the same night Alex Ovechkin scored twice and tied Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in NHL history with 894.
Gretzky, who attended the game to show support to Ovechkin, personally congratulated Ryan inside the Capitals’ locker room.
“The kid who scored in the empty net, where is he?” Gretzky said. “Congratulations on your first goal. 895 more and you can pass him.”
“It’s awesome,” John said of his brother’s experience with Gretzky. “Obviously, I’m super proud of him. He’s going to have a heck of an NHL career.”
Heading into the Hershey Bears and Charlotte Checkers’ playoff series, Ryan made no misgivings about who he was rooting for to advance.
“I got to go big bro,” Ryan told RMNB’s Katie Adler while the Capitals were still in the postseason. “Have to.”
He added, “I actually haven’t talked to [John] since they won [the Semifinals], so yeah, it’ll be interesting to see. Definitely be watching, for sure, always watching his games, and I’m sure it’ll be a fun series.”
Leonard shared a Caps dressing room with many former Bears and several from the team’s recent championship teams, including Aliaksei Protas and Connor McMichael.
“Oh, they got the Bears,” Leonard said. “They got the Bears. They’re rooting for them. I just have to go big bro, but two winners on both sides (for me), I guess.”
During Game 3 of the Bears-Checkers series, Ryan was forced to hide his allegiances due to where he was sitting: to the right of Frank, McIlrath, and Joe Snively.
“You know, it was kind of funny for him,” John said. “He was sitting in the Hershey box today, so he said he wasn’t allowed to clap or anything for us, so he was laughing at that, but it’s all good fun. And yeah, I was obviously fired up to see him afterwards.”
Ryan noticeably had no reaction in the suite when his brother found paydirt in the second period or when the Checkers closed things out. But apparently, that’s because he was just good at hiding his joy.
“He said he threw in a couple of silent claps when the Checkers scored,” John said. “So it was good.”
Ryan has previously credited his older brother John with helping him get to where he is in his career. He also consulted him when deciding to return to Boston College for his sophomore season.
“Probably this summer we’ll talk a lot more,” Ryan said. “He’s trying to win a championship… We’ll definitely talk about it more and more. More of the pro lifestyle in the summer when we’re really close, hanging out every day.”
Once the two brothers split up downstairs, Ryan could be seen greeting many Hershey Bears players outside the locker room, exchanging congratulations and well wishes. He also shared several minutes with Hershey black ace Ilya Protas, with whom he became friends at the Capitals’ 2024 Development Camp.
