- The Capitals have invited center Ryan McGuire to development camp this summer, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 21-year-old had a strong junior year at Colgate, notching 14 goals and 12 assists in 34 games but has elected to transfer to Northeastern next season.
Capitals Rumors
Capitals Re-Assign Vincent Iorio
After sustaining an injury in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Capitals rookie defenseman Vincent Iorio is ready to return. That’s good news for their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, who are still alive in the Calder Cup Playoffs and will add his services for the remainder of the season, per a team announcement.
Washington picked up Iorio from the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft, going 55th overall. He’s seen limited major-league action in each of the past two seasons, recording an assist and a +1 rating in nine games while playing an extremely minimal role, averaging 11:20 per game.
The 21-year-old was forced into playoff action for the Caps after Nick Jensen and Rasmus Sandin went down with injuries near the end of the regular season, but logged just two shifts in Game 1 of the first round against the Rangers. He sustained an upper-body injury that knocked him out of the remainder of the four-game sweep.
Iorio, a 6’3″ right-shot defender, has been a good two-way force for the most dominant team in the AHL over the past two years. Since turning pro, the British Columbia native has six goals, 36 points and a +43 rating in 123 games for the Bears. He had a goal and four assists in 15 games for Hershey in last year’s run to the Calder Cup.
A strong passer and breakout puck-mover, Iorio will be in contention to land a spot on the Caps’ blue line next season. He has two seasons remaining on his entry-level contract with a $814K cap hit.
Charlie Lindgren Joins Team USA At Worlds
After initially declining the invitation in recent weeks, Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren has had a change of heart and will now join Team USA at the Worlds, the team announced. He’ll take the place of Detroit’s Alex Lyon who was the number one goalie to start the event before suffering a hand injury, ending his tourney prematurely. The 30-year-old had a breakout year, earning the starting job in Washington while putting up a 2.67 GAA along with a .911 SV% and a league-high six shutouts in 50 games, helping to lead them to the playoffs before being swept in the opening round.
Dave Forbes Passes Away At Age 75
Earlier today, the NHL Alumni Association announced the passing of former player Dave Forbes at the age of 75. Forbes, who was born in Montreal in 1948, spent six seasons in the National Hockey League from 1973-1979.
After spending four years playing for American International College, Forbes signed as a free agent with the Boston Bruins before the 1973-74 NHL season, making his professional debut on October 10, 1973. Throughout his four years with the Bruins organization, Forbes scored 53 goals and 105 points in 283 games, helping the Bruins to the 1974 and 1977 Stanley Cup Finals.
During the 1977-78 Waiver Draft, Forbes was selected by the Washington Capitals in the organization’s fourth year of operations. Forbes managed 11 goals and 22 points over 70 games in his first year with the Capitals organization, as the team finished with a 17-49-14 record in the Norris Division. Forbes was released by Washington after two games of the 1978-79 season and finished his professional career that season after playing with the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association.
In total, Forbes played in a total of 362 career games at the NHL level, scoring 64 goals and 128 points while racking up 341 penalty minutes. After his career came to an end in 1979, Forbes picked up a second career as a financial advisor while becoming very involved in his local Church community throughout the end of his life. PHR sends its condolences to Forbes’ family and friends.
Capitals Re-Assign Alexander Suzdalev
Capitals prospect Alexander Suzdalev has played in two different leagues already this season and could be suiting up his third one soon enough. The team announced that they have now re-assigned the forward to AHL Hershey.
The 20-year-old played with WHL Regina last season and fared quite well, recording 38 goals and 48 assists in 66 games and was named to the CHL All-Rookie Team. However, he opted for a change of scenery for this season as instead of returning to the Pats, he opted to play in Sweden and was loaned to Mora of the second-tier Allsvenskan level.
Things didn’t go as well at that level as Suzdalev was limited to just two goals and an assist in 13 games with them. When Regina traded his junior rights to Saskatoon in late December, Suzdalev elected to return to junior and played for the Blades down the stretch. He wasn’t as productive as last season but still managed nine goals and 16 assists in 30 regular season games and added four goals and nine helpers in 16 playoff contests before the Blades were eliminated on Tuesday.
Suzdalev will now join the Bears, the top team in the standings during the regular season. Hershey is up two games to one in their best-of-five second-round series against Lehigh Valley so it stands to reason that Suzdalev may need to wait a little while before getting his first taste of AHL action.
Capitals Could Try To Re-Engage On Signing Ryan Leonard In The Summer
- Capitals prospect Ryan Leonard opted not to sign with Washington for their playoff run, instead choosing to stay at Boston College instead. However, with San Jose getting the first-overall pick (which is expected to be used on Macklin Celebrini), it’s possible that Celebrini signing will also result in San Jose getting Will Smith to turn pro and become their one-two punch down the middle. If that happens, Colby Cohen suggested on a recent Daily Faceoff appearance (video link) that Washington could then try to re-engage on getting Leonard, a current teammate of Smith, to sign for 2024-25. Leonard had a dominant campaign, putting up 31 goals and 29 assists in 41 games in his freshman year.
Martin Fehervary To Play In World Championship
- Another player heading to the Worlds is Capitals blueliner Martin Fehervary; Slovakia’s GM Miroslav Satan announced (Twitter link). The 24-year-old logged a little under 20 minutes a night this season for Washington while finishing in the top three on the team in hits and blocked shots. Fehervary also was their leading scorer in the playoffs, picking up two goals and an assist in their sweep at the hands of the Rangers. This will be Fehervary’s fourth time playing in this tournament.
Capitals Notes: Oshie, Backstrom, Extensions, Bear
Veteran forward T.J. Oshie told the media on Tuesday that he’ll need reassurance that injuries won’t be an issue before he decides on if he’ll play next season, shares Monumental Sports’ Tarik El-Bashir in a video of the press scrum (Twitter link). Oshie has one season remaining on the eight-year contract he signed with the Capitals in 2017. He was limited to just 56 games this season, bearing with a nagging back issue that ended his season a few weeks early last year. Oshie also shared that he broke his left hand on a hit from New York Ranger Matt Rempe in Game 3 and played through the injury in Game 4.
Back injuries late in a career always deserve extra care, as most veterans can attest to. So it makes sense that the 37-year-old Oshie could hesitate to push himself much more. He’s done it all throughout his 16-year NHL career, winning the 2018 Stanley Cup and representing America at one Olympic Games and three World Championships or World Cups. He polished off his résumé by reaching the 1,000-game mark this season, a feat he was eager to achieve. Oshie seems open to working his way back to full health, though Caps fans will have to hope he’s able to overcome his long battle with his back injury.
Other notes out of D.C.:
- Oshie’s fellow assistant captain Nicklas Backstrom is also facing injury questions next season, with general manager Brian MacLellan saying he expects Backstrom to remain on LTIR, per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link). Backstrom attempted to come back from back from hip resurfacing surgery this past season, but only managed eight games before his hip issues flared back up. The hip injury has forced Backstrom out of 152 games over the last three seasons, including ending his 2022-23 season in January. The Capitals will continue to receive $9.2MM in LTIR relief with Backstrom remaining sidelined.
- MacLellan also shared that the team has engaged forwards Beck Malenstyn and Connor McMichael in extension conversations, per Sammi Silber of The Hockey News (Twitter link). Both McMichael and Malenstyn carved out daily roles this season, playing in 80 and 81 games and scoring 33 and 21 points respectively. While they rotated around the lineup, especially in response to Washington’s injury bug, both players found a home on the team’s third line. They’re each set to become restricted free agents on July 1st, coming off deals that paid them just above the league minimum. They’re not likely to cost too much more on new deals, though the Capitals will still have to be careful with the money they hand out, with just $6.685MM in projected cap space this summer.
- Capitals defenseman Ethan Bear has exited the NHLPA Player’s Assistance Program, per Silber (Twitter link). Bear entered the program in late March, missing out on Washington’s last 11 regular-season games. After recovering from shoulder surgery, Bear signed a two-year contract with Washington in late December. He’ll look to vindicate that deal and its $2.0625MM price tag with a strong return next season.
Capitals Assign Seven Players To The AHL
One day after being swept by the New York Rangers, the Washington Capitals announced that they’ve assigned seven players to the Hershey Bears of the AHL. Washington’s AHL affiliate is the top seed and are the defending Calder Cup champions.
The Capitals loaned goaltender Mitchell Gibson, forwards Ivan Miroshnichenko and Hendrix Lapierre, as well as defensemen Lucas Johansen, Vincent Iorio, Dylan McIlrath, and Hardy Haman Aktell to the Bears. The group will have an opportunity to make a deep playoff run in Hershey. Iorio, Johansen, Lapierre, and McIlrath were all part of Hershey’s Calder Cup championship team from last season.
Of the players being assigned to Hersey only Lapierre and Miroshnichenko played more than 20 NHL games this season. Lapierre dressed in 51 games for Washington posting eight goals and 14 assists as well as a goal and an assist in four playoff games. He tallied his first career postseason goal last night with a beautiful individual effort that tied the game at two.
Miroshnichenko dressed in 21 games with Washington this year, posting two goals and four assists. The 20-year-old was the Capitals first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and appeared mostly in the AHL this season where he had nine goals and 16 assists in 47 games.
Iorio, Johansen, and Aktell all appeared in six games for Washington this season, while McIlrath dressed in three NHL games. Gibson didn’t see NHL action this year and spent most of the season in the ECHL, aside from two games with the Bears.
Hershey opens their Atlantic Division Semifinals series against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Wednesday at GIANT Center. Lehigh Valley swept the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in two games this past weekend and will be a big underdog against the Bears, especially with all the reinforcements that Washington has sent down.
T.J. Oshie Played Through Broken Hand In Game 4
- It was revealed after their Game 4 loss that Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie played through the elimination game with a broken hand, shares The Hockey News’ Sammi Silber (Twitter link). It was linemate Dylan Strome who revealed Oshie’s injury while praising him for being such a great teammate. Strome added that fans don’t know the full extent of things Oshie has to do to prepare for a game, which certainly makes sense after the veteran forward suffered a seemingly endless string of injuries this year. He was limited to just 52 games this season, scoring 12 goals and 25 points. He has one year left on his deal, but after reaching 1,000 games and battling through injuries, there’s a chance the 37-year-old Oshie could bring his career to a close. On that idea, Strome says, “If it is his last game, he’s a hell of a warrior, hell of a guy. Everything you can ask for in a teammate.”