The Capitals announced they’ve recalled goaltender Garin Bjorklund from AHL Hershey and returned fellow netminder Clay Stevenson to Hershey in the corresponding move.
While trades aren’t permitted during the ongoing Olympic roster freeze, most simple reassignments are allowed. Teams also must continue carrying two goalies on their active roster during the break. With Charlie Lindgren on injured reserve, that means Washington has to stash a netminder they’d normally prefer to have playing in the minors on the NHL roster.
Today’s swap serves to let Stevenson get some reps in Hershey over the next couple of weeks as the AHL schedule continues rolling through the Olympic break. With injuries to both Lindgren and Logan Thompson, the 26-year-old Stevenson has been on Washington’s roster since Jan. 29. He made three consecutive starts with Washington’s regular duo sidelined, compiling an impressive .904 SV% and 2.33 GAA with a 2-1-0 record. That’s a particularly strong stat line considering he had to start both halves of a back-to-back to close a stretch of three games in four nights.
The Alberta native is in his fourth season in the organization after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Dartmouth in 2022. He replaced Hunter Shepard as the Caps’ third-stringer for this season after Shepard left for the Senators in free agency. In 24 starts for Hershey, he’s put up a .912 SV%, 2.57 GAA, and an 11-8-4 record.
Bjorklund, 23, comes up to fill the two-goalie requirement but will presumably be returned to Hershey at the end of the Olympic break, either to swap places with Stevenson or to make way for Lindgren’s IR activation if he’s ready to return. A sixth-round pick in 2020, he’s starting to make the jump from the ECHL level to the AHL this season and has served as Stevenson’s backup for a good portion of the campaign. He has a .881 SV% in 12 showings for Hershey and a .929 mark in seven games for ECHL South Carolina.