Sept. 24: The Caps have officially announced the deal and revealed that the contract will carry an AAV of $925K.
Sept. 23: The Capitals have inked their top pick from the draft back in June, signing defenseman Alexander Alexeyev to a three-year, entry-level contract. The blueliner announced the contract himself via his Instagram page. Financial terms of the deal are not yet known.
The 18-year-old was the final pick of the first round (31st overall) of the draft following an impressive season with Red Deer of the WHL. Injuries limited him to just 45 regular season games but he still led the Rebels in scoring from the back end with 37 points (7-30-37) while collecting five more (2-3-5) in three postseason contests.
Alexeyev has already been returned to Red Deer for the upcoming season so it’s extremely unlikely that he will reach the ten NHL games required to actually start the contract in 2018-19; he can now only be recalled under emergency conditions. Accordingly, his deal will slide a year and will still have three years left on it starting in 2019-20. He’s already off to a good start to his junior campaign with a pair of goals in as many games with the Rebels.