Washington tried to add a forward through unrestricted free agency to play on one of its top two lines, but after that fell through, it re-signed forward Anthony Beauvillier to a two-year contract July 3 and decided to stick with what it had. Following the departures of unrestricted free agent forwards Andrew Mangiapane (Edmonton Oilers), Lars Eller (Ottawa Senators) and Taylor Raddysh (New York Rangers), the Capitals plan to give young players such as Ryan Leonard, 20; Ivan Miroshnichenko, 21; Andrew Cristall, 20; and Hendrix Lapierre, 23, a chance to show what they can do in training camp and early in the season, and then assess if they need to make a trade.
“If it’s not working or if we feel like the team is in a spot where we need to add a veteran guy, then we’ll go out and be aggressive to do that,” general manager Chris Patrick said. “But I think we need to see what we have with some of these guys and then make our decisions based off that. I feel pretty confident in the team around them.”
Patrick has reason to feel that way; among those to fit in perfectly with the Capitals last season was center Pierre-Luc Dubois, who responded after being acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings on June 19, 2024, by setting an NHL career high with 66 points (20 goals, 46 assists) in 82 games.
Defenseman Jakob Chychrun, acquired in a trade with the Senators on July 1, 2024, established NHL career highs in goals (20) and points (47), and goalie Logan Thompson, acquired in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights on June 29, 2024, set NHL career bests in wins (31) and goals-against average (2.49) in 43 games.
Other Washington players to set League career highs last season included forwards Aliaksei Protas (66 points; 30 goals, 36 assists), Tom Wilson (65 points; 33 goals, 32 assists), Connor McMichael (57 points; 26 goals, 31 assists) and Nic Dowd (14 goals, 27 points). But with those statistical breakouts come questions about whether those players can duplicate or exceed what they accomplished last season.
Patrick said he believes those questions will provide motivation this season.
“I think there’s some hunger there for guys to show that, ‘We’re continuing to build our games and improve,'” he said. “‘Yeah, it was a career year numbers-wise, but I still have more to give.'”