{"id":635692,"date":"2026-05-11T01:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T01:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/635692\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T01:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T01:06:08","slug":"sheldon-rempal-discusses-stint-with-capitals-and-why-he-chose-to-leave-hershey-bears-for-the-khl-i-think-they-wanted-to-give-younger-players-a-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/635692\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheldon Rempal discusses stint with Capitals and why he chose to leave Hershey Bears for the KHL: \u2018I think they wanted to give younger players a chance\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sheldon Rempal was one of the roster casualties after a very competitive Washington Capitals<\/a> training camp last fall. He impressed during the preseason, with Caps head coach Spencer Carbery even saying<\/a>\u00a0that Rempal \u201chad every argument to say that he could play in the NHL tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rempal, however,\u00a0was cut from the Capitals\u2019 training camp roster in early October<\/a>. After passing through waivers, he was assigned to the AHL\u2019s Hershey Bears, where he played just four games before returning to the KHL. Rempal had played the 2024-25 season with the league\u2019s Salavat Yulaev and returned to the club after his brief stint back in North America.<\/p>\n

The Calgary native recently sat down with Championat\u2019s Vladimir Laevsky<\/a> to discuss why he originally signed with the Capitals last July and then why he decided not to stick it out in the AHL with the Bears.<\/p>\n

\u201cI simply thought it would be my best chance to make an NHL team, that I\u2019d have a chance to prove myself in Washington,\u201d Rempal said<\/a>, per a translation by Google Translate. \u201cBut after training camp, it became clear it wouldn\u2019t work out. Then I thought the best solution would be to return to Salavat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they wanted to give younger players a chance. I thought I had a good training camp. But, unfortunately, Washington had other plans, which involved other players. But I don\u2019t regret anything. I was happy to return to the KHL.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears have regularly allowed players to pursue high-paying overseas opportunities if they don\u2019t want to stay and play in the AHL. Bryan Helmer, Hershey\u2019s VP of Hockey Operations, spoke to RMNB\u2019s Ian Oland about the policy earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t want to be in Hershey, and you have an opportunity to go over to the KHL and make a ton of money, and it\u2019s kind of a game changer, I\u2019m not going to hold anyone back,\u201d Helmer said. \u201cObviously, Remps is a tough loss. He\u2019s a veteran guy. He\u2019s put up numbers in the past. But I wasn\u2019t going to hold a guy back like that if he just didn\u2019t want to be here. It was just one of those things that I would never do because obviously, then, if I force him to stay here, it\u2019s not a good look. I\u2019m sure it wouldn\u2019t have worked out.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yeah, we let him go. Obviously, we\u2019ve got young guys that at the time were playing well, so we\u2019re like, \u2018Okay, maybe we should be all right with him going.\u2019 And then it gives us an opportunity to bring in a guy like (Brett) Leason. Washington feels the same as I do. If a guy doesn\u2019t want to be here and he can sign over there and make a ton of money, good for him. If I were a player and I had an opportunity like that, I wouldn\u2019t expect that a team would hold me back either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rempal was part of a round of cuts<\/a> from the Capitals that also included top prospects Ilya Protas<\/a> and Andrew Cristall. The forwards that beat him out to stay in DC included Justin Sourdif<\/a>, Ivan Miroshnichenko<\/a>, Hendrix Lapierre<\/a>, Ethen Frank<\/a>, and Sonny Milano<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a meeting after training camp, when I was sent to the AHL,\u201d Rempal said. \u201cThey simply said, \u2018You worked hard in training camp. But we\u2019ve decided to start the season with different players. However, be prepared to be called up to the main team when the opportunity arises. Just be ready.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I thought that at my age, I just wanted to take a different path, to return to the city where they love me. So, as I already said, I don\u2019t regret any of the decisions I made. I was happy to sign with Salavat, to come back, and to help the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his brief stint with the Capitals, Rempal had the opportunity to meet and skate with the club\u2019s legendary captain, Alex Ovechkin<\/a>. Rempal says the NHL\u2019s all-time leading goal scorer took interest in his prior experience in the KHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met Ovi when I arrived in America,\u201d Rempal said. \u201cHe knew I came from the KHL and was proud that I played in that league. Alex has a lot of respect for Russia and the KHL. It was great to talk to him and spend time with him on the ice. Ovechkin is obviously a hockey legend; he\u2019s highly respected all over the world. It was a really cool experience to meet him, one I will definitely remember forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rempal was one of the KHL\u2019s top players this past season, finishing third in points per game (1.21), behind two other forwards with past-Capitals ties: Sam Anas (1.33) and Daniel Sprong (1.23). Overall, he notched 46 points (15g, 31a) in 38 games and became teammates later in the year with former Caps center Evgeny Kuznetsov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sheldon Rempal was one of the roster casualties after a very competitive Washington Capitals training camp last fall.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-635692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}