Brandon Duhaime joined the Washington Capitals as a free agent during the 2024 offseason. The rambunctious winger, who was a fourth-round pick of the Minnesota Wild in 2016, spent the previous three full seasons in the Western Conference with the Wild and Colorado Avalanche.<\/p>\n
Duhaime came to DC essentially as an unknown quantity, even to his new head coach Spencer Carbery. However, he let the team know exactly who he was not long after arriving.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Dewey coming here, I didn\u2019t know much about him, honestly,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cWe were looking for that type of player to play with Nic Dowd, penalty kill, energy, responsible. So when we acquired him in free agency, I didn\u2019t know other than some film and talking to management about him. But he, since coming here, I mean, he\u2019s become a big part of our team.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a big personality. He fits in with our group so well. He\u2019s got such an energy, enthusiasm, positivity about him. Right from day one, he\u2019s seamlessly fit in with our group. And then on the ice, I think what he\u2019s done is he\u2019s done a real good job of the foundational things in his game. So penalty kill, providing energy, physicality, being really, really reliable and smart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duhaime, a budding new YouTuber<\/a> and the biggest prankster on the Capitals<\/a>, became a key piece of Carbery\u2019s trusty checking line last season, playing in all 82 games for the East-best Caps. During the season, he set new career highs in games played, average time on ice per game (13:20), assists (12), and points (21). He also averaged 2:15 of shorthanded ice time per game, which was fourth most on the Caps and second most among forwards to only Nic Dowd.<\/p>\n While Duhaime was a reliable force on the defensive side of the ice and took some of the team\u2019s fighting responsibilities away from Tom Wilson, Carbery says the 28-year-old winger also grew his game playing with the puck.<\/p>\n \u201cProbably halfway through last year, he started to show a little bit more from a standpoint of being able to make a few more plays and hold on to some pucks and make a play off entry,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cFor a guy like him, that helps a lot. If you can make two or three more plays a game, playing on the fourth line, it makes a world of difference for his line and also for our team creating momentum.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s done a good job. And now it\u2019s a matter with him of balancing that line of how many plays can I make versus not getting away from who he truly is as a player and that\u2019s provide energy, physicality, be really, really smart, and doing that as consistently as you possibly can game to game.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday night, Duhaime is set to play in his 300th career NHL game against the Seattle Kraken. It\u2019ll also be his 91st game with the Capitals, which have all been spent on Dowd\u2019s wing. At five-on-five alone, the two forwards have spent 845:12 of ice time together since Duhaime arrived. At all strengths, that number rises to 1031:49 of ice time.<\/p>\n Carbery was asked what makes the two such a formidable duo and gave credit to both Dowd and Duhaime being students of the game.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of it is a credit to Dowder, no doubt,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cHe\u2019s a really, really easy guy to play with, and he\u2019s such a personable communicator, and he cares so much about his craft and his line that there\u2019s no stone unturned with Nic Dowd. Like, he is going to talk you through it. You\u2019re going to have a long conversation about it. You might watch film together where some other guys are just like, \u2018Yeah, we\u2019ll figure it out on the fly.\u2019 That\u2019s not Nic Dowd.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are going to be on the same page with everything that they do. Penalty kill, face-offs, five-on-five. I think Dewey really appreciates that and takes a lot of pride in his craft. So they just work so well together on being very, very connected and on the same page with everything that they do on the ice together. And they actually make light of the fact that [they only play together], Dewey\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019ve only taken two shifts away from Nic Dowd in two seasons.\u2019 But, yeah, they\u2019ve got good chemistry.\u201d<\/p>\n This season, the two have been joined by a new winger, Justin Sourdif, after they spent the majority of the 2024-25 campaign skating with Taylor Raddysh. Sourdif came over via trade with the Florida Panthers during the summer and the new trio has immediately hit the ground running.<\/p>\n With the line on the ice at five-on-five through six games, the Capitals have seen 56.9 percent of shot attempts, 50 percent of expected goals, 51.2 percent of scoring chances, and 70.7 percent of high-danger chances. Those five-on-five numbers come despite starting just six total shifts in the offensive zone compared to 19 in the neutral zone and 23 in the defensive zone.<\/p>\n While they have driven play, all three forwards are yet to record a point this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brandon Duhaime joined the Washington Capitals as a free agent during the 2024 offseason. 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