The Capitals have recalled goaltender Hunter Shepard from AHL Hershey, the team announced today. The move comes after No. 1 netminder Logan Thompson left Wednesday’s loss to the Hurricanes with an upper-body injury after the first period and did not return. He’ll presumably miss tonight’s clash with the Blackhawks while Shepard backs up Charlie Lindgren.
With the playoffs just over two weeks away, an injury scare to Washington’s breakout star between the pipes is far from good news. Thompson will almost certainly be a Vezina Trophy finalist in the coming weeks, ranking ninth in the NHL with a 2.49 GAA and .910 SV% while placing second in the league with 26.0 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck. He’s run cold as of late, logging a .780 SV% in his last three outings, but has a remarkable 31-6-6 record on the year and put pen to paper on a six-year, $35.1MM extension in January.
The Caps haven’t issued a timeline for his return and he’s still being evaluated, so there should be more clarity on Thompson’s absence in the coming days. In the interim, the 29-year-old Shepard is an intriguing third-string option for Washington. He made his NHL debut last season, posting a 2-1-1 record with a .894 SV% and 3.19 GAA in four spot starts throughout the campaign. An undrafted free agent signing by Hershey out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth back in 2020, he’s in the back half of the two-year, two-way deal he signed with the Caps in 2023 and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Shepard’s big-league debut came amid one of the more decorated seasons we’ve seen from an AHL netminder in quite some time. He was unquestionably the top goalie in minor hockey in 2023-24, leading the league in GAA (1.76) and SV% (.929) while taking home the league’s Baz Bastien Memorial Award for the top goaltender. Naturally, he was awarded a First All-Star Team nod and helped guide Hershey to its second straight Calder Cup championship.
However, his numbers have cratered in 2024-25. In 37 appearances, Shepard has a 2.81 GAA, .891 SV% and three shutouts. That’s still good for a 22-11-3 record behind a strong skater core in Hershey, but it’s a far cry from the outright dominance he’s shown in previous years – enough to call into question whether Washington will offer him a new deal this offseason. With a playoff berth locked up, he could still see some NHL action down the stretch in order to allow Lindgren and Thompson rest ahead of the postseason, though.