Capitals Reassign Bogdan Trineyev
The Capitals announced they’ve reassigned winger Bogdan Trineyev to AHL Hershey. Today is the last day for teams to send players down to the minors before amended eligibility rules kick in during the Olympic roster freeze, which begins at 2:00 pm Central. Those restrictions can be found over at PuckPedia.
The 23-year-old Trineyev has now been recalled three separate times by the Caps this season, playing the first two games of his NHL career in the process. He’s still looking for his first point, but managed three shot attempts and a hit while averaging 10:32 of ice time per game. While his 5-on-5 sample size may only include 21 minutes of ice time, he’s had a good impact in that time with a 62.2 CF% while splitting his offensive and defensive zone usage 50-50. He’s filled in as part of the rotating cast of fourth-line wingers with Brandon Duhaime and Nic Dowd, controlling 62.5% of expected goals together, per MoneyPuck.
Trineyev was a fourth-round pick back in 2020. He ended up inking his entry-level deal two years later and had played exclusively in Hershey from the tail end of the 2022-23 season until landing his first NHL recall earlier this year. He’s spending this season on a league-minimum two-way deal, but the Caps were pleased enough with his progression this season to ink him to a two-year, two-way extension worth up to $1.8MM last month.
It’s truly been a breakout campaign for the 6’3″, 200-lb Russian in the AHL. He has nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points in 32 games, already just one point shy of the career-high he set last year in 62 appearances. If he can keep up that offensive development, there’s a decent chance he can end up being a valuable complementary bottom-six piece in the NHL.
Capitals Announce Several Roster Moves
The Capitals will be without a key forward for the next little while. Head coach Spencer Carbery told reporters including Sammi Silber of The Hockey News that center Connor McMichael is out week-to-week due to an upper-body injury, keeping him out through next month’s Olympic break. The team subsequently announced that he has been placed on injured reserve and in a corresponding move, forward Bogdan Trineyev has been recalled from AHL Hershey. Additionally, goaltender Charlie Lindgren has also been placed on IR with netminder Garin Bjorklund also being recalled from Hershey.
The 25-year-old had played in all 55 games this season before today’s news. McMichael isn’t producing at the same level as he was last season when he had a career-best 26 goals and 57 points but he was on pace to set a new personal best in assists. Overall, he has eight goals and 23 assists while moving back to playing center regularly after spending most of last season on the wing.
This is certainly an important season for McMichael, who is in the final year of his bridge deal that carries a $2.1MM cap charge, a number that also serves as his qualifying offer. With arbitration rights for the first time, he’ll be looking to land a long-term contract so getting healthy and bouncing back for the stretch run will be crucial, especially with Washington on the outside looking in at a playoff spot.
Meanwhile, Silber also relays that defenseman Matt Roy remains listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. He was also moved to injured reserve today, creating the roster opening to keep goaltender Clay Stevenson up with the team as they used their last 48-hour emergency goaltender exemption to bring him up on Thursday. Roy last suited up last Saturday, meaning that if the Caps backdated his placement, he’ll be eligible to be activated as soon as Tuesday when they’re set to take on the Islanders.
As for Trineyev, this is his third recall of the season. The 23-year-old got into two games with Washington during his first two stints and is still looking for his first career NHL point. However, he has done well with the Bears, notching nine goals and 12 assists in 32 games, putting him one point shy of last year’s total in 30 fewer games. That was enough to earn him a two-year extension from the Capitals earlier this month. Either he or Sonny Milano will take McMichael’s place in the lineup today versus Carolina.
When it comes to the goaltenders, Lindgren was able to get through Thursday’s game against Detroit but needed assistance to get off the ice following the shootout. While there’s no word on how long he’ll be out, the placement means he’ll be out until after the Olympic break. Through 18 games this season, Lindgren has struggled, putting up a 3.37 GAA along with a .884 SV%, both well below the league average.
With Logan Thompson’s availability for tonight also in question, Bjorklund will serve as insurance if Thompson is unable to suit up. The 23-year-old has split his season between Hershey and ECHL South Carolina. In 11 games with the former, he has a 3.43 GAA and a .879 SV%. However, his numbers in seven contests with the Stingrays are much better, checking in at 2.37 and .929, respectively.
Following these five roster moves, Washington’s roster now stands at the maximum of 23.
Capitals Sign Bogdan Trineyev To Two-Year Extension
Earlier this season, Capitals winger Bogdan Trineyev made his NHL debut. Between that and a solid showing in the minors, he has shown enough to earn a longer look from the team. The Caps announced that they’ve inked the winger to a two-year, $1.8MM contract extension. The deal will be a two-way deal in 2026-27, paying $850K in the NHL and $225K in the minors before converting to a one-way salary of $950K for the 2027-28 campaign.
The 23-year-old was a fourth-round pick by Washington back in 2020, going 117th overall. It took until the 2022-23 campaign for him to become a full-time player in the KHL when he was in the first season of his entry-level deal. Trineyev managed just two goals and 11 assists in 39 games with Dynamo Moskva but he has been a bit more productive offensively since making the jump to North America full-time for the 2023-24 campaign.
That year with AHL Hershey, Trineyev had 16 points in 63 contests before upping his output to 22 points in 62 games last season before adding seven more in eight playoff outings. That was enough to earn him a one-year, two-way deal for this season and he has made the most of it. Trineyev has played in 30 games so far for the Bears in 2025-26, picking up nine goals and 11 assists while already setting a new personal best in the latter category. That earned him a two-game stint with Washington last month although he’s still looking for his first NHL point.
Assuming that Trineyev gets into 78 more NHL games between now and the end of the 2027-28 season, he will remain eligible for restricted free agency with salary arbitration rights. If he doesn’t get into that many outings at the top level, he will instead become eligible for Group Six unrestricted free agency at that time.
Capitals Recall Ivan Miroshnichenko, Reassign Bogdan Trineyev
The Capitals announced they’ve recalled winger Ivan Miroshnichenko from AHL Hershey and returned winger Bogdan Trineyev to Hershey in the corresponding move. Washington’s active roster remains at the 23-player limit.
The Caps have been dipping into the minor-league depth since Ryan Leonard went down with a shoulder injury earlier this month. Trineyev was the name to get recalled in the immediate aftermath. Although he’s remained on the active roster since, his playing time has been limited with just two appearances.
Those games, a Dec. 13 showing against the Jets and yesterday’s outing against the Maple Leafs, were the first two outings of Trineyev’s NHL career. The 23-year-old was a fourth-round pick in 2020 and had notched 50 points and a +32 rating in 143 career appearances for Hershey before the recall.
Trineyev held his own in a fourth-line role but didn’t really move the needle. Averaging 10:32 per game, he managed three shot attempts, two blocks, and a hit, but didn’t get on the scoresheet. He was part of a dominant defensive effort with linemates Brandon Duhaime and Nic Dowd, only allowing 1.06 xGA/60 at 5-on-5.
Perhaps there’s a place for the 6’3″, 203-lb winger down the line as a cheap fourth-line option, but he’s not a roster lock yet. He’ll return to Hershey, where he’s tracking for a career year offensively with 12 points in 16 games.
Miroshnichenko, Washington’s first-round pick in 2022, gets his first NHL look of the season in his countryman’s wake. The 6’1″ sniper has gotten lengthy looks on the Caps’ roster in each of his first two seasons in North America, logging 21 appearances in 2023-24 and 18 last year. He’s got a 3-7–10 scoring line and a -3 rating to show for it across 39 games.
The 21-year-old has been a top-scoring presence for Hershey since his arrival over two years ago, and that hasn’t changed in 2025-26. Miroshnichenko missed half their schedule with an injury but has been productive when in the lineup, notching four goals and nine points in 12 games. He’ll look to keep that momentum up in a familiar depth scoring role, presumably until Leonard returns in the next couple of weeks.
Capitals Place Ryan Leonard And Charlie Lindgren On IR, Recall Two
12/11/2025: The Capitals issued an official update to Leonard’s status today, writing that Leonard “sustained a shoulder injury” during the Dec. 5 game against the Ducks, and that “his projected recovery time is approximately 3-4 weeks.” The Hockey News’ Sammi Silber called it a “positive update” for the Capitals, due to the fact that it does not appear Leonard will need surgery.
12/7/2025: The Washington Capitals this morning announced a series of transactions: they have placed forward Ryan Leonard and netminder Charlie Lindgren on IR, and recalled forward Bogdan Trineyev and goalie Clay Stevenson from their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears.
Both IR placements are retroactive to Friday, meaning the earliest they’ll be able to return is Dec. 12.
The biggest name in these transactions is that of Leonard, the No. 8 overall pick at the 2023 draft and one of the Capitals’ top young players. Leonard was on the wrong end of a hit from Anaheim Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba in the team’s game Dec. 5, and appears to have suffered an upper-body injury as a result. Head coach Spencer Carbery said today that Leonard will miss “an extended period of time” with his injury.
Since the game, members of the Capitals, including Carbery and star forward Tom Wilson, have expressed frustration at Trouba’s hit on Leonard. Carbery said today of the hit: “it looks old school to me, like hunting a player that’s in a vulnerable spot.”
Wilson was critical of Trouba, saying the Ducks veteran “knows exactly what he was doing” and adding that Leonard was “in a vulnerable spot” when he was hit. Wilson has himself been suspended multiple times in the past for illegal checks, including a 20-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head delivered in a 2018 preseason contest.
Losing Leonard to IR as a result of Trouba’s hit is an unfortunate development for the Capitals. The rookie has impressed to start 2025-26, scoring 18 points in 29 games. His blend of competitiveness and skill is one many teams covet, and a combination of traits the Capitals have benefited from greatly whenever he’s been on the ice.
The forward the Capitals recalled to fill Leonard’s spot on the roster, Trineyev, isn’t likely going to be able to match what Leonard is able to contribute on a nightly basis. The 23-year-old has yet to make his NHL debut. He scored 22 points in 62 AHL games last season, but has seen his production tick upward so far this year. Trineyev has 12 points in 16 games for Hershey so far in 2025-26. Standing 6’3″, 206 pounds, Trineyev may at least be able to replace some of the physical edge Leonard provides, even if he is less likely to match Leonard’s offense.
Lindgren last played Dec. 3 and has been dealing with an upper-body injury. The 31-year-old is in his fourth season in Washington, and has established himself as a quality full-time NHLer in the American capital. He played a career-high 50 games in 2023-24, posting a .911 save percentage. His performance that season earned him a third-place Vezina Trophy vote and a fifth-place Hart Trophy vote, coming from The Hockey News’ Sammi Silber who covers the Capitals.
Lindgren hasn’t been quite as good since that point, ceding the No. 1 role in Washington to Logan Thompson. Lindgren has a .893 save percentage in 10 games this season and posted an .896 in 39 games last year. Lindgren’s replacement on the NHL roster while he’s on IR is Stevenson. Stevenson is part of a tandem with Garin Bjorklund in Hershey, and has impressed thus far in his AHL career.
He has a .910 save percentage in 11 games this season, and while he was not as good in 2024-25, he had a .922 in 36 starts as an AHL rookie in 2023-24. Stevenson has played in one career NHL game to this point, an April 17 contest last season where he made 33 saves in a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Capitals To Activate Nic Dowd, Reassign Bogdan Trineyev
The Washington Capitals should be getting a boost to their bottom-six tonight against the San Jose Sharks. According to Sammi Silber of the DC Backcheck, the Capitals have activated Nic Dowd from the injured reserve and assigned Bogdan Trineyev to the AHL’s Hershey Bears in a corresponding roster move.
Dowd has been participating in a few skates over the last couple of days, but hasn’t played since mid-November. The 11-year veteran has been recovering from an upper-body injury since November 17th, missing eight games in the process.
Before his absence, Dowd was again his steady self down the middle for Washington. He typically centered a line between Justin Sourdif and Brandon Duhaime, and the trio combined for a 53.3% xGoals% according to MoneyPuck.
Regarding the boxcar stats, Dowd was relatively quiet, scoring one goal and five points in 19 games with a 51.0% success rate in the faceoff dot. He’s additionally averaged nearly two hits per game and has managed a 94.6% on-ice save percentage at even strength — far and away the best on the team for those who have played in more than 10 games.
Meanwhile, Trineyev’s recall lasts exactly one week, without an NHL debut. He’ll return to the Bears, where he’s gotten off to the best start of his career, scoring six goals and 12 points in 15 games. To put that production into context, the former 117th overall pick finished last season with 14 goals and 22 points in 62 games. Should he continue his pace, which admittedly is unrealistic, Trineyev would more than double last year’s performance if he plays in 62 or more games.
Capitals Recall Bogdan Trineyev, Place Nic Dowd On IR
The Washington Capitals have awarded one of their top AHL scorers with the first NHL call-up of his career. Winger Bogdan Trineyev has been recalled after recording six points and 15 shots on goal in the Hershey Bears’ last six games. Trineyev is up to 12 points in 15 games this season, second-most on the team.
Washington has placed Nic Dowd on injured reserve, retroactive to his last game on November 17th, to create the roster space for Trineyev’s recall. Dowd has missed the last four games with an upper-body injury. He appears to be headed for a fifth absence, after being dubbed a game-time decision for Wednesday’s match against the Winnipeg Jets, the same designation he carried for Monday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, per Sammi Silber of The Hockey News in her newsletter, DCBackcheck.
Trineyev is expected to be listed as Washington’s extra forward on Wednesday. The Capitals will stick with Sonny Milano and Ethen Frank on their fourth-line wings. That duo has been red-hot as of late, with three points and five points over the last three games respectively.
A chance to be close with the NHL lineup will still be a nice reward for Trineyev, who seems to be amid his first true breakout in North America. He has held up near point-per-game scoring through the early season after posting seven points in eight games of last year’s Calder Cup Playoffs. Trineyev had previously only scored 42 points in 149 AHL games, riding a slow climb through Hershey’s lineup that was marked by incremental improvements. Trineyev played in 53 games in Russia’s KHL before moving over to the AHL full-time in 2023. He scored 13 points in his final 39 KHL games, his only scoring in the league.
Trineyev is a strong, skilled power-forward, standing at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds. He has a hard shot and soft hands – and has grown his ability to get involved in play significantly over his first two full AHL seasons. Washington will now recognize that growth by providing the 23-year-old a chance to learn from NHL veterans.
Waivers: 10/1/25
With less than a week to go until the regular season, waiver season is in full swing. According to PuckPedia, the largest waiver placement of the preseason has taken place:
Boston Bruins
Colorado Avalanche
D Wyatt Aamodt
F Daniil Gushchin
Detroit Red Wings
F Sheldon Dries
D William Lagesson
F John Leonard
D Ian Mitchell
F Dominik Shine
F Austin Watson
Florida Panthers
F MacKenzie Entwistle
F Nolan Foote
F Wilmer Skoog
Los Angeles Kings
D Samuel Bolduc
F Logan Brown
F Martin Chromiak
G Pheonix Copley
F Glenn Gawdin
F Cole Guttman
D Joe Hicketts
F Andre Lee
F Akil Thomas
F Taylor Ward
Nashville Predators
Philadelphia Flyers
San Jose Sharks
Tampa Bay Lightning
F Nicholas Abruzzese
F Boris Katchouk
F Jakob Pelletier
Utah Mammoth
Washington Capitals
D Louis Belpedio
F Graeme Clarke
F Henrik Rybinski
F Bogdan Trineyev
Winnipeg Jets
Capitals Sign Bogdan Trineyev To Two-Way Extension
The Capitals signed left-winger Bogdan Trineyev to a one-year, two-way extension on Sunday. He’ll earn the league minimum $775K salary if on the NHL roster next season and $100K when in the minors.
It’s Trineyev’s second contract with Washington. A fourth-round pick of the Caps in 2020, the 23-year-old has spent parts of the last four seasons with AHL Hershey after signing his entry-level contract in May 2022. He was set to be a restricted free agent this offseason with that deal expiring.
Trineyev was the first selection Washington made in that draft after selecting Hendrix Lapierre with the No. 22 overall pick. The 6’3″, 203-lb Russian was coming off a gold medal-winning performance at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and flashed his speedy power forward game at the junior level, eventually logging 31-52–83 in 113 MHL games across four seasons with Dynamo Moscow’s U20 club. While he remained mostly in the Russian juniors or minors (VHL) until signing his ELC with the Caps, Washington loaned him back to Russia for the first year of that deal in 2022-23. That gave him the opportunity to see extended professional minutes for the first time, posting 2-11–13 in 39 KHL games with Dynamo before the Capitals ended his loan and brought him over to Hershey.
After seeing a pair of regular-season and postseason games with Hershey over the prior two seasons, Trineyev skated full-time for the Bears in 2023-24. He was a capable bottom-six checking presence in the minors, recording 9-7–16 in 63 games with 18 PIMs and a +12 rating. He added four assists in 20 playoff games to help Hershey to its second straight Calder Cup championship. Here in 2024-25, Trineyev bettered his offensive output with a 14-8–22 scoring line in 62 games, adding 23 PIMs and a +13 rating, the latter of which ranked third on the team.
Trineyev is a deep cut in a high-end Capitals prospect pool that includes names like first-rounder Ryan Leonard and dynamic collegiate defenseman Cole Hutson near the top, but his promising two-way and physical play in a depth role in the minors suggests there could still be a fourth-line role for him on Washington’s NHL roster in a couple of years’ time. Extending him for 2025-26 gives Washington another chance to see how his offensive game grows in his third year playing in the pros in North America before considering him for his first NHL call-up.
The Caps now have 33 contracts signed for 2025-26, leaving them up to 17 slots to fill.
Metropolitan Notes: Kuemper, Trineyev, Pyyhtia, Lindgren, Nylander
Capitals netminder Darcy Kuemper left practice early today after sustaining an upper-body injury, notes NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link). At this point, it’s unknown if he’ll be available to play on Sunday in Minnesota. If he does miss time, it will be the second time that the 32-year-old has been out with an injury this season as he missed eight games back in December. Despite that, Kuemper has had a decent first year with Washington, posting a 2.77 GAA with a .910 SV% and a league-high five shutouts in 48 starts. If Kuemper can’t play, Charlie Lindgren will take over as the interim starter for the Caps.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Still with Washington, the Capitals have re-assigned forward Bogdan Trineyev from KHL Dynamo Moscow to AHL Hershey, per a team release. The 21-year-old had 13 points in 39 games during the regular season while adding a pair of assists in the KHL playoffs before being eliminated. Trineyev got into two games with Hershey in the playoffs last season and should have a chance to see more action with them this time around.
- The Blue Jackets announced that they have re-assigned winger Mikael Pyyhtia to AHL Cleveland. The 21-year-old spent the season with TPS in Finland, picking up just seven goals in 47 games after putting up 21 in 56 contests in 2021-22 which helped him earn an entry-level contract last May. His season over there came to an end so he will now get his first taste of action in North America down the stretch.
- While Ryan Lindgren was a full participant in practice today, the defenseman isn’t likely to play tonight, relays Larry Brooks of the New York Post (Twitter link). The 25-year-old has been out for the last four weeks with an upper-body injury. The Rangers opted not to place him on LTIR at the time, opting to play short players earlier this month as a result but in hindsight, they would have been able to get away with putting him there and then send players down once Lindgren is cleared to return, which should be quite soon now.
- The Penguins recently reclassified Alexander Nylander’s recall from an emergency one to a regular one, notes Rob Rossi of The Athletic (Twitter link). In doing so, Nylander is allowed to remain up with the team even when it’s not an emergency situation but it also means they use one of their four allowable post-deadline recalls. They have two remaining now; the other was used on a paper transaction with Drew O’Connor.