{"id":749432,"date":"2026-07-07T23:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/749432\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T23:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:50:10","slug":"report-capitals-deemed-charlie-lindgren-too-important-to-logan-thompsons-success-to-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/749432\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Capitals deemed Charlie Lindgren \u2018too important\u2019 to Logan Thompson\u2019s success to trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Capitals<\/a> made a lot of big moves over the offseason to improve their team. The one spot they didn\u2019t fiddle with was in goal, where the team will head into next season with Logan Thompson<\/a> and Charlie Lindgren<\/a> between the pipes.<\/p>\n

While Thompson posted Vezina Trophy-worthy numbers in 2025-26<\/a>, Lindgren scuffled, having his worst season to date while making 20 or more appearances in net. Lindgren posted a 9-8-3 record, 3.52 goals-against average, and .879 save percentage. He also gave up -5.3 goals above expected, placing him 76th of 98 goaltenders last season, per MoneyPuck<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lindgren\u2019s performance, combined with his contract \u2014 he has two seasons remaining on his three-year deal worth $3 million annually \u2014 had him in trade rumors during the offseason, but ultimately Caps brass opted not to move him.<\/p>\n

\"Charlie<\/p>\n

\"RMNB\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other thing that I thought was interesting, I was pretty sure this summer they were going to deal Charlie Lindgren and they didn\u2019t,\u201d Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts Podcast on Monday<\/a>. \u201cThey kept him because they think he\u2019s so important for Logan Thompson. I just didn\u2019t know if the Capitals felt a backup making $3 million was something they could handle. And they just felt it was too important for Thompson to make the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Capitals were ultimately able to juggle Lindgren\u2019s contract under the salary cap with the aggressive acquisitions they made, adding top-six forwards Alex Tuch<\/a> and Jordan Kyrou<\/a>, former Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner<\/a>, and physical defenseman Vincent Desharnais<\/a>. The Capitals sent out young players Connor McMichael<\/a> and Hendrix Lapierre<\/a> in trades and also saw unrestricted free agents Brandon Duhaime<\/a> and Trevor van Riemsdyk<\/a> sign elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it starts off the ice,\u201d Lindgren said of his relationship with Thompson in March 2025<\/a>. \u201cWe get along really well. We have a lot of respect and admiration for each other. Certainly what Logan\u2019s done in his time here has been pretty unbelievable. He\u2019s had quite the year and so he\u2019s driven me to push harder. It\u2019s the classic \u2018iron sharpens iron\u2019 and he\u2019s constantly pushing me to get better because obviously with his his play this year, I knew that if I wasn\u2019t playing well, I probably wouldn\u2019t get many opportunities with the way he\u2019s playing. It\u2019s kept me focused, it\u2019s kept me driven, and hopefully I\u2019ve done the same to him. It\u2019s been a great partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson and Lindgren, both rare right-handed catching goalies, each had long roads to the NHL. Even when they split starts in 2024-25 and were pending free agents, they supported each other. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur relationship\u2019s been, from the get-go, it\u2019s been unbelievable. At the end of the day, I want the team to win,\u201d
Lindgren added in an interview with Monumental Sports Network last season<\/a>. \u201cSuccess for LT means success for our team. And it\u2019s fun to be competitive, but it\u2019s a great way to better each other. And so, it\u2019s been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Capitals seemed sensitive to their budding relationship even then, opting to re-sign both longterm \u2014 Thompson for six seasons<\/a> and Lindgren for three \u2014 and handling their contracts in a way so that it did not upset the locker room.<\/p>\n

\"Capitals<\/p>\n

\"RMNB\"<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Logan signed, [Chris Patrick] actually allowed me the opportunity to go and just meet with him,\u201d Lindgren said in March 2025<\/a>. \u201cAnd he still told me where I fit into the picture and how bad he wanted me to be a part of this organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t tell you the amount of respect I have for that meeting and him allowing me to just have a conversation with him, just to see where I fit in \u2014 and it still makes sense, this whole dynamic as partnership. It\u2019s going to be great for Logan and I, it\u2019s going to be great for organization, it\u2019s going to be great for the team, and so we\u2019re just going to continue to build this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Charlie<\/p>\n

\"RMNB\"<\/p>\n

How beloved Lindgren is inside the Capitals\u2019 locker room is best illustrated both by how the team rallied in the second half of the 2023-24 season to make the playoffs after he took over the starting role from Darcy Kuemper<\/a>. Lindgren also had a heroic performance against the Detroit Red Wings<\/a> this past January where he injured himself in overtime but stayed in the net for the shootout, leading the Capitals to a 4-3 victory.<\/p>\n

\"Capitals<\/p>\n

\"RMNB\"<\/p>\n

Lindgren was carried off the ice by his teammates and celebrated in the locker room<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe deal with some late game adversity. We stay with it,\u201d Spencer Carbery said. \u201cHey, and Chucky f***ing playing on one f***ing leg. Might have zero legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindgren holding onto the backup spot will also ultimately force the Capitals into another difficult situation this fall during training camp. Clay Stevenson<\/a>, 27, will have to be placed on waivers again to be sent to the AHL\u2019s Hershey Bears.<\/p>\n

Stevenson, who has an $850k cap hit, played well in the four games he suited up for the Capitals this past season, going 3-1-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage. The Hershey Bears stalwart is signed through next season, but there were rumors even last year that other teams were interested in claiming him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Lindgren\u2019s salary ($3 million) for a backup is arguably high, his salary combined with Thompson\u2019s ($5.85 million) still provides value to the Capitals. Their cap hits together still end up being less than the AAV for Igor Shesterkin<\/a> \u2014 the Rangers star netminder and the highest-paid goaltender in the league.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Capitals made a lot of big moves over the offseason to improve their team. The one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-749432","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\/749432","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=749432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}