Nicklas Bäckström To Attempt Resuming Playing Career In Sweden
Capitals franchise legend Nicklas Bäckström hasn’t played since October 2023 after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery and was expected to retire when his contract expires this summer. While the center’s NHL days are still set to be over, it doesn’t look like he’s ready to hang up the skates entirely. He’s planning on signing a one-year deal with Brynäs IF of the Swedish Hockey League and slowly get back into game action, per Tomas Ros and Hans Abrahamsson of Aftonbladet.
“The dream comeback,” Ros and Abrahamsson wrote (translated from Swedish by Chris Cerullo of Russian Machine Never Breaks). “What we hear now is that he is signing a one-year contract with Brynäs and is treading very carefully. Maybe only playing half the games until Christmas. Then it will be more and more.”
Brynäs was Bäckström’s youth club and first professional team back when he made his SHL (then called Elitserien) debut in the 2004-05 campaign. He scored 66 points in 110 games for Brynäs before coming to Washington in 2007.
Bäckström’s hip problems limited him to 94 total regular-season appearances over what will stand as his final three NHL seasons. Now 37, Bäckström was long one of the league’s top two-way centers and breached the 70-point mark on eight occasions as Alex Ovechkin‘s primary setup man throughout his career. The fourth overall pick in the 2006 draft, he ranks second from that year’s selections in career points behind Claude Giroux (although he can still be realistically usurped by Brad Marchand). His 762 assists are a Capitals franchise record, and he and Ovechkin are the only two players to record 1,000 points for Washington.
Bäckström hasn’t played for Brynäs since his pre-NHL days. He instead opted to play in Russia with Ovechkin during the 2012-13 lockout.
It would be quite the morale boost for a Brynäs club that’s already authored an impressive story over the last year or so. A top-flight fixture in Swedish hockey since the 1950s, Brynäs was demoted to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan for the 2023-24 campaign but won promotion back to the SHL in their first year back down. The club returned with a vengeance, finishing first in regular-season play and advancing to the playoff final, losing to Luleå HF. Their roster next year is highlighted by a few former NHLers including Jakob Silfverberg and includes defenseman Christian Djoos, who was briefly teammates with Bäckström in Washington.
Capitals’ Ryan Chesley Signs Entry-Level Deal
May 16, 4:29 p.m.: Chesley’s deal pays him a $775K base salary, a $95K signing bonus, and up to $80K in games-played bonuses next season, per PuckPedia. For 2026-27 and 2027-28, those figures jump to an $855K base and a $95K signing bonus with no GP bonuses.
May 16, 11:45 a.m.: It took over a month, but Chesley has signed his entry-level contract, the Caps announced. The three-year deal runs through the 2027-28 season and will carry a cap hit of $923.3K. He had a goal and two assists in four games with Hershey on his tryout.
March 31: Capitals defense prospect Ryan Chesley is turning pro. The team announced the 21-year-old has signed a tryout with AHL Hershey for the remainder of the season while they work out the details of his entry-level contract.
Washington selected Chesley early in the second round (No. 37) of the 2022 draft with a pick they acquired in the Vítek Vaněček trade with the Devils. A 6’0″ righty, the two-way defender was coming off a standout season with the U.S. National Development Team Program. He’s suited up at the University of Minnesota for the three seasons since, continuing to play an extremely sound game despite a lack of flashy point totals.
That’s not to say Chesley can’t produce. After being limited to eight points in 39 games last year, he served as one of many team captains for the Golden Gophers in 2024-25 and put up a career-high 8-12–20 scoring line in 40 games. He finished fifth on the team with a +17 rating. Over his trio of collegiate campaigns, he totaled 12-26–38 with 80 PIMs and a +34 rating in 115 appearances.
Scott Wheeler of The Athletic regards Chesley as a relatively safe bottom-pairing fixture long-term, although he likely has some upside in top-four deployment as a complementary defender to a more skilled partner. He’s the No. 8 prospect in Washington’s system and the second-ranked defenseman behind Boston University standout Cole Hutson (No. 3).
The Minnesota native won bronze with the United States at the 2023 World Juniors before winning gold at the 2024 tournament, playing top-pairing minutes while posting 1-3–4 in seven games. His pending ELC will be three years, regardless of whether it starts this season or in 2025-26.
Latest On Penguins’ Head Coaching Search
In addition to considering Kings assistant D.J. Smith in their search for a new head coach, the Penguins are also interested in Capitals assistant Mitch Love and former Blues coach Drew Bannister as they look to fill their head coaching job, according to Josh Yohe of The Athletic (article link).
It seems clear Washington anticipates Love drawing interest for multiple of the remaining vacancies this offseason and isn’t expecting him back. While the team is still active in the postseason, they’ve granted Pittsburgh permission to interview Love – something that’s already happened and has vaulted him onto the “short list of favorites for the job,” Yohe writes.
There haven’t been many other candidates firmly linked to the Penguins’ open position outside of Rick Tocchet, who signed a reported five-year contract with the Flyers yesterday. Talks didn’t progress past a casual stage between Tocchet and general manager Kyle Dubas regarding the Pittsburgh vacancy, according to Yohe.
“Tocchet wants to win, and he wants to win now,” Yohe added. “You can argue about how close the Flyers are to winning. But the Flyers are further along in their rebuild than the Penguins are. Tocchet didn’t want to find himself in a situation where struggling in the first couple of seasons was OK because the franchise is building. He wants to win now and wasn’t certain that the Penguins are ready for that.”
As for the three named candidates, the writing on the wall indicates Love is Pittsburgh’s preferred name. He’s spent the last two seasons with the Capitals as an assistant under Spencer Carbery and drew interest for head coaching jobs. He was a head coaching candidate in the 2023 hiring cycle after winning back-to-back Coach of the Year awards with the AHL’s Stockton Heat/Calgary Wranglers, but lost out. Now 40, the British Columbia native has had the chance to acclimate to an NHL bench under a Jack Adams Award finalist and presents himself as a more attractive candidate this time.
Regarding Bannister, the former NHL defenseman finished 2023-24 as the Blues’ interim head coach and was given the permanent job last summer along with a two-year contract. His early-season departure was less to do with St. Louis’ 9-12-1 record out of the gate and more with Jim Montgomery unexpectedly becoming available for hire when the Bruins canned him in November. Like Love, the last two seasons were Bannister’s only ones behind an NHL bench in any capacity. His previous coaching experience came with the Blues’ AHL affiliate and the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack and Soo Greyhounds.
With Dubas in Sweden as Canada’s general manager for the World Championship and his open-minded approach to the search, there’s an expectation the Penguins’ search stretches into the latter days of May, Yohe adds.
Capitals Recall Clay Stevenson, Charlie Lindgren Questionable
10:00 AM: The Capitals’ optional morning skate revealed a bit more about their call-up of Stevenson. Expected Game 5 backup Charlie Lindgren is dealing with a personal matter that could hinder his ability to suit up on Thursday, per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. If that’s the case, Washington will run with Thompson starting and one of Stevenson or Mitchell Gibson in the backup role.
9:00 AM: The Washington Capitals have recalled goaltender Clay Stevenson from the AHL in preparation for Thursday’s Game 5 matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes. Washington is one loss away from being eliminated. With the Hershey Bears not playing until Friday, AHL backup Stevenson will join the Capitals as an emergency third-string goalie for the must-win contest.
It’s unlikely that Stevenson will get near the lineup with Logan Thompson holding a firm grip over the starting role. Thompson is expected to receive his 10th-straight playoff start on Thursday. He was red-hot against the Montreal Canadiens in Round One, posting a 0.923 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against-average as Washington bounced Montreal in five games. Thompson’s numbers have slipped slightly against Carolina – down to a .913 and 2.75 goals-against-average, even despite only allowing three goals on 61 shots through the first two games of the series. But even with the dip, Thompson’s numbers are strong – and will keep him unwavering in the starter’s crease.
Stevenson has served behind Hunter Shepard through the start of the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs. He posted a .875 save percentage and 6-4 win in the sole appearance he’s made so far – though hasn’t been able to get over the .850 save percentage and 2-2 record of Shepard. Stevenson posted an 18-8-5 record, .888 save percentage, and 2.94 goals-against-average through the AHL regular season. He also made his NHL debut this season – and recorded five goals on 33 shots and a loss. Stevenson will likely be reassigned before Hershey’s next game on Friday, though that could change should Washington hold onto their season for one more game.
Scott Arniel, Spencer Carbery, Martin St. Louis Named Jack Adams Finalists
The Jets’ Scott Arniel, the Capitals’ Spencer Carbery, and the Canadiens’ Martin St. Louis are this year’s Jack Adams Award finalists as the NHL’s top head coach, the league announced.
All are first-time finalists. Unlike most other awards (like the Selke, whose finalists were announced today), the Adams is voted on by broadcast media members, not print/digital.
In his first season behind the Winnipeg bench after taking over for the retiring Rick Bowness, Arniel guided the Jets to their first Presidents’ Trophy and best regular season in franchise history. Promoted after serving as an assistant under Bowness since 2022-23, the former Jets 1.0 forward logged a 56-22-4 record.
This is Arniel’s second stop as an NHL head coach. He was previously at the helm of the Blue Jackets for a year and a half, posting a 45-60-18 (.439) record in 123 games before being fired at the halfway point of the 2011-12 season. He would be the first bench boss in Jets 2.0 franchise history to win Coach of the Year honors.
Over in Washington, Carbery oversaw one of the league’s biggest point increases from 2023-24 to 2024-25 in his second year behind the Capitals’ bench. He’s now posted a 91-53-20 (.616) record across his two seasons in the role, including an Eastern Conference-leading 51-22-9 record this year for Washington’s first division title in five years. While it’s not considered for this award’s purposes, he also just guided the Caps to their first playoff series win since 2018 with a five-game dispatching of the Canadiens in the first round.
Carbery helped improve Washington’s offense from a 28th-ranked 2.63 goals per game last year to 3.49 in 2024-25, second-best in the NHL. If he wins, the 43-year-old would be the first to take home Coach of the Year honors at every stop of the NHL’s professional development pyramid. While in lower levels of the Caps organization, he won COTY honors with ECHL South Carolina in 2013-14 and with AHL Hershey in 2020-21.
As for St. Louis, the Hall-of-Fame winger could add coaching-related honors to a trophy case that includes a Stanley Cup, two Art Ross Trophies, MVP honors, and three Lady Byng Trophies. Coming off his third full season behind the Montreal bench, the 49-year-old helped guide a young Habs squad out of the dark stages of their rebuild. The team recorded their first 40-win season in six years and ended a three-year postseason drought that was tied for the longest (1999-2001, 1920-1922) in franchise history. A Habs bench boss hasn’t been named COTY since Pat Burns in 1989.
Capitals Recall Mitchell Gibson, Assign Clay Stevenson To AHL
With the next few days off, the Capitals have made a couple of moves on the goalie front. The team announced that they’ve recalled Mitchell Gibson from AHL Hershey while assigning Clay Stevenson to the Bears.
Gibson is in his second full professional season and spent the bulk of the year with ECHL South Carolina. In 14 games with the Stingrays, he played quite well, putting up a 1.75 GAA and a .933 SV% while winning his only start with Hershey. However, he has played just three times for the Bears over the last two years which might not help his cause heading into restricted free agency this summer.
As for Stevenson, he made his NHL debut in the final game of the regular season but otherwise has played exclusively with the Bears in each of the last two years. In 33 games with Hershey this season, he posted a 2.94 GAA along with a .888 SV%, numbers that were considerably worse compared to a year ago when those checked in at 2.06 and .922, respectively.
The move will essentially serve as a swap of third-string goaltenders, allowing Stevenson to potentially see game action with Hershey during their second-round series against Lehigh Valley. Before their series against Carolina gets underway, there’s a good chance this move will be reversed.
Tom Wilson's Physicality Again Supporting Capitals
- Washington Capitals power forward Tom Wilson‘s physicality has been a key catalyst in the team’s first-round matchup against the Canadiens, writes The Hockey News’ Sammi Silber. As Silber notes, Wilson delivered a big hit on Alexandre Carrier that led to the game-tying goal in game four, which the Caps would go on to win 5-2. Washington is now just one win away from moving on to the second round. While the hit has drawn speculation as to its legality, no penalty was called, and momentum was clearly shifted toward the Capitals. As Wilson said after the game: “It’s been a physical series both ways, getting hit, giving hits, they’ve been really physical, so it’s a long series. You just try and kind of invest and continue to play hard every shift you’re out there. It was a big hit and the boys were able to score right after. That’s the way hockey goes.” It was the second consecutive game Wilson’s physicality came into play. In game three, Wilson and Josh Anderson engaged in a wrestling match that ended up spilling into Washington’s bench. Both players received roughing minors and 10-minute misconducts and were also assessed $5,000 fines for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Dylan McIlrath Fined By Department Of Player Safety
- Similarly to Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj, the Department of Player Safety has fined Washington Capitals defenseman Dylan McIlrath $2,018.23 for unsportsmanlike conduct in yesterday’s pre-game warm-up. Again, the league didn’t share any specifics of the altercation, but video footage indicates the two sharing words with several members of the opposing teams.
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Capitals’ Aliaksei Protas, Logan Thompson To Be Game-Time Decisions
Sunday’s morning skate was more than encouraging for the Washington Capitals. Starting goaltender Logan Thompson took the ice and practiced in full just two days after sustained a knee injury in the waning minutes of Game 3. Thompson seemed down for the count after an awkward collision with teammate Dylan Strome, and Washington seemed set to turn towards backup Charlie Lindgren for the remainder of the First Round. But after Sunday’s practice, both Thompson and forward Aliaksei Protas – who has missed nine games due to a laceration on his foot – will be game-time decisions for Game 4, per NHL.com’s Dan Rosen.
The Capitals will be thrilled at the prospect of getting their hard-nosed starter back. Backup Lindgren has performed well enough when called upon this season, with a 20-14-3 record and .894 save percentage. But his performances have paled in comparison to the breakout season that Thompson managed. He recorded a dazzling 31-6-6 record and .910 save percentage in 43 starts this season. That save percentage ranks as the 11th-highest from any Capitals starter since 2000. He’s ranked behind four Braden Holtby seasons; one season from each of Olaf Kolzig, Tomas Vokoun, and Jose Theodore; and sprinkles of breakout years from Lindgren and Michal Neuvirth.
But Thompson’s seemed to shine just as bright, if not brighter, in the spotlight than many of his predecessors. He’s recorded a .917 save percentage through three playoff games this year – even despite allowing five goals in his last outing – and managed a .921 in four games of the Vegas Golden Knights’ run last season. Holding onto that level of play in the starter’s crease could be pivotal as Washington looks to buck a Game 3 loss and wrap up their first round series.
Protas will be just as dramatic of an addition. The 24-year-old forward had his own breakout campaign this year, scoring a career-high 30 goals and 66 points in 76 games – more than a full lap over the six goals and 29 points he scored in 78 games last season. Protas was the perfect fit in Washington’s top-six, offering a lumbering frame and quick cuts in the middle lane to compliment the fast-moving Connor McMichael or heavy-shooting Alex Ovechkin on the flanks. He will step straight into Washington’s top-six should he return for Game 4, likely bumping Taylor Raddysh or Brandon Duhaime out of the lineup in the process.
Aliaksei Protas Close to Return For Washington
Montreal Canadiens starting goalie Samuel Montembeault is being evaluated after leaving Friday’s game three victory over the Capitals, per NHL.com reporter Dan Rosen.