Hendrix Lapierre has struggled to see consistent ice time throughout the 2025-26 NHL season. With the Washington Capitals keen on competing for a playoff spot from the outset of the year, little opportunity was present for a player still trying to find his way on the ice early in his professional career.
Now, with the Capitals’ playoff odds near zero and with some extenuating circumstances, Lapierre is being given his most consistent opportunity from head coach Spencer Carbery as the season winds down. Carbery spoke Sunday morning about what he’s seeing confidence-wise from the 24-year-old forward after moving him to the wing in the team’s top-six forward group.
“Laps played well, and he’s getting some good opportunity playing in our top six, and he’ll continue to get that,” Carbery said. “He makes a good play on the goal [against Boston]. They end up being on for the goal against, the first one, but I thought overall, he’s done a good job. His confidence level and his play with the puck, you can see it’s just slowly growing, where he’s willing to hang on to it a little bit more, make a few more plays, not just throw it away. I think he’s done a good job.”
In Saturday’s loss to the Bruins, Lapierre played 12:10 of total ice time, lining up with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Tom Wilson. The game was his third this month in which he received more than 10 minutes of ice time, something he hasn’t done since November (3) and October (8).
Lapierre chipped in one of the assists on Matt Roy’s goal to open the game’s scoring. Lapierre sent an indirect pass off the boards to Rasmus Sandin, who slid the puck over to Roy for a blast from the point that beat Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman.
The apple was Lapierre’s 10th of the season, and he has now recorded three points (1g, 2a) in his last four games. He has 13 total points (3, 10a) this year.
While Lapierre’s overall playing time has been minimal this year, he has made the most of what he’s been given. During his 526:57 of total five-on-five ice time, the Capitals have seen 56.5 percent of shot attempts, 57.2 percent of expected goals, 58.3 percent of scoring chances, and 60.3 percent of high-danger chances.
The team’s level of success during those minutes has likely kept Lapierre in the club’s plans, despite a 90-game goal drought that he finally ended in late January. Carbery spoke about consistently keeping Lapierre in his lineup through those struggles and how the Capitals and the player may now benefit from going through that rough patch.
“I’m going to say it’s partly our, us as an organization, believing in the player,” Carbery said. The other 50 percent is the player taking advantage of the opportunity and not forcing our hand to say, ‘You know what, we need to make a change.’ I think he’s done a good job for us for the most part this year, even though the production wasn’t there early in the year. He was playing consistently every night.
“I know the role wasn’t huge and his minutes weren’t significant, but he was in the lineup on a team that’s competing to try to be in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I think he was, even though it may not look like it because of the minutes and the lack of production, he was playing solid in the role that was being asked of him. I think we’re willing to be patient with him, and now given an opportunity, it’s on him to take advantage of playing some more minutes and playing with some of our more offensive players.”
Lapierre has previously shown that he can produce while playing with more offensively gifted linemates, particularly during his stints in the AHL with the Hershey Bears. During the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs, Lapierre played on Hershey’s dominant first line with Joe Snively and Ethen Frank.
In those 20 playoff games en route to a second straight Bears championship, Lapierre recorded 22 points (7g, 15a). He was the league’s top postseason scorer, with Snively (18) and Frank (17) following him in second and third, and was named playoff MVP.
The goal for Lapierre now will be to translate more of that minor-league success to the NHL, especially as he is set to become a restricted free agent this summer. He’ll have just 14 games down the final stretch this season to try and do so.