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Capitals Re-Sign Alex Limoges To Two-Way Deal

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The Capitals are bringing back one of their top minor league scorers for another season, as they’ve re-signed forward Alex Limoges to a two-way deal, according to a team announcement. He’ll earn a $300K salary while in the AHL and cost $775K against the cap if on the NHL roster.

Limoges, 27 in September, has yet to make his NHL debut but has been one of the AHL’s more consistent scorers over the past few seasons. After finishing his collegiate career at Penn State during the pandemic, the undrafted Virginia native spent two seasons on AHL contracts with the Ducks’ affiliate in San Diego before landing an entry-level deal with the Jets in 2022. He spent the entire season on assignment to AHL Manitoba, though, and didn’t receive a qualifying offer the following summer, paving the way for him to sign a two-way deal contract with the Capitals last offseason.

The 6’1″, 201-lb forward has averaged around 0.80 points per game throughout his minor-league career, a number he climbed slightly north of this season. On assignment to AHL Hershey for the entirety of the season, Limoges finished second on the team in scoring with 51 points (24 goals, 27 assists) in 62 games with a +17 rating. He added 13 points in 20 playoff games as he helped guide Hershey to its second straight Calder Cup championship.

Limoges’ likelihood of receiving an NHL recall dwindles as he ages, but he’s likely still among the Caps’ top five or six options to bring up from the minors if injuries strike. His new deal represents a decent raise from last season’s $235K AHL salary. While he was an RFA this summer, he’ll age out by the end of 2024-25 and will be a UFA upon expiry.

Capitals Re-Sign Hardy Häman Aktell, Riley Sutter To Two-Way Deals

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The Capitals have re-signed left-shot defenseman Hardy Häman Aktell and right winger Riley Sutter to two-way deals, according to a team release. Both contracts carry $775K cap hits with a $350K AHL salary for Häman Aktell and a $150K AHL salary for Sutter.

Häman Aktell, who turns 26 tomorrow, returns for his second season in North America after signing a one-year entry-level contract with the Caps last offseason. Nashville’s 2016 fourth-round pick never signed with the Preds, staying in his native Sweden up until last season and letting his exclusive signing window lapse.

It took a while for Häman Aktell to land an everyday role in the top-level Swedish Hockey League, but upon doing so in 2020, he immediately became a part of a strong Växjö Lakers club that won two SHL titles in the span of three seasons. Between the 2020-21 and 2022-23 campaigns, Häman Aktell recorded 63 points (17 goals, 46 assists) in 151 games along with a +40 rating.

His first season with the Caps was unimpressive, though. He spent most of it on assignment to AHL Hershey, where he didn’t make as much of an impact offensively as expected, with only 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in 55 regular-season games. A rash of injuries on the Washington blue line early in the season did give Häman Aktell the chance at his NHL debut, recording an assist and a -2 rating in six appearances while averaging an extremely limited 10:38 per game.

He ended his season on a high note, though, breaking out for five goals and four assists in 17 postseason games as he helped guide Hershey to its second straight Calder Cup. His signing rights stuck with the Caps as an RFA this summer after they issued him a qualifying offer prior to the June 30 deadline.

Sutter, 24, will return for his sixth campaign in Hershey next season. A third-round pick of the Caps in 2018, he’s yet to make his NHL debut but has garnered over $700K in estimated career earnings (CapFriendly) and has played a depth role in Hershey’s back-to-back championships. The son of NHL veteran Ron Sutter had a career-high nine goals and 23 points in 66 games for the Bears last season and is one of their biggest bodies at 6’4″ and 207 lbs. Like Häman Aktell, Washington had issued him a qualifying offer to keep him as an RFA.

Capitals Sign Luke Philp, Spencer Smallman To Two-Way Deals

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The Capitals have signed forwards Luke Philp and Spencer Smallman to two-way deals, according to a team release. They both carry $775K cap hits and NHL salaries. Philp will earn $375K while in the minors, and Smallman will earn $350K.

Now entering his sixth professional season, Philp, 28, will look to rebound after an injury-plagued 2023-24 campaign. An Achilles injury sustained in August limited him to 15 games of action last season, all with the Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate in Rockford. There, he had two goals and six points in 15 games. He’s one year removed from making his NHL debut with Chicago, recording an assist and an even rating in three games in 2022-23.

Philp is a top-six AHL forward when healthy and can play both center and right wing. After recording 53 points in 60 games with Rockford a season ago, he’ll presumably head to Washington’s affiliate, the Hershey Bears, who have won back-to-back Calder Cup championships.

Smallman will join Philp in Hershey. The 27-year-old has spent the last two seasons on a two-way deal with the Avalanche, which didn’t result in any NHL time. The 6’1″ right-winger is a decent minor-league depth scoring presence and had 12 goals and 21 points in 53 games last season.

Neither are likely candidates to receive NHL call-ups next season and will be far down the list of potential injury replacements in Hershey, although Philp could see some action if Washington needs immediate short-term help down the middle. Both will become UFAs upon expiry next summer.

Minor Free Agent Signings: Metropolitan Division

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With over 180 deals signed during the first day of free agency yesterday, some smaller names may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Here’s a list of names that have inked two-way deals with Metropolitan Division clubs since the market opened yesterday, per CapFriendly. Some of these may have been included in our main coverage yesterday, while others went under the radar. All contracts carry the league-minimum $775K cap hit unless stated otherwise). Those listed here are likely to begin 2024-25 with each team’s AHL affiliate.

Carolina Hurricanes

none

Columbus Blue Jackets

D Cole Clayton (one year, $950K entry-level cap hit)
F Owen Sillinger (one year)

New Jersey Devils

F Mike Hardman (two years)
D Colton White (two years)

New York Islanders

none

New York Rangers

none

Philadelphia Flyers

none

Pittsburgh Penguins

D Nathan Clurman (one year)
D Mac Hollowell (one year)
F Jimmy Huntington (one year)
F Bokondji Imama (one year)
D Ryan Shea (one year)

Washington Capitals

G Mitchell Gibson (one year)
D Chase Priskie (one year)

Capitals Sign Brandon Duhaime

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the Washington Capitals have signed forward Brandon Duhaime to a two-year, $3.7MM contract.

Duhaime, 27, joins his third team in the past few months. The fourth-line energy winger first broke into the league with the Wild in 2021-22, unexpectedly playing in 80 of 82 games while providing solid value with 17 points, 122 PIMs and 201 hits while averaging 10:13 per game.

He hasn’t quite rediscovered that level of play, though, and injuries hampered his effectiveness over the next few seasons in Minnesota. The Wild dealt him to the Avalanche at the trade deadline, where he finished the season with five points and 53 hits in 18 games. In playoff action with Colorado, he mustered a goal and a -2 rating in 11 games but averaged fewer than eight minutes a night.

He’ll look to reprise a fourth-line role in Washington as he helps ease the loss of Beck Malenstyn and Nicolas Aubé-Kubel, key parts of their bottom six last year that both found their way to the Sabres via trade and free agency.

Capitals Sign Matt Roy, Taylor Raddysh

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The Washington Capitals have signed defenseman Matt Roy to a six-year, $33MM contract, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). The deal will carry an annual cap hit of $5.5MM. The Capitals have also signed depth forward Taylor Raddysh to a one-year, $1MM deal per PuckPedia (Twitter link).

Attempting to improve their finish from last season, the Capitals are making heavy investments in their defensive core. After acquiring left-handed defenseman Jakob Chychrun from the Ottawa Senators, Washington improved their right side with a long-term commitment to Roy. The two-day defenseman had spent the last six years with the Los Angeles Kings after being selected by the team in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL Draft.

Behind Drew Doughty in Los Angeles, Roy became a significantly underrated defenseman. Over the last three years, Roy suited up in 230 games for the Kings while collecting 16 goals and 72 points overall and posting a combined +52 rating. Additionally — Roy averaged 1.72 hits per game and 1.96 blocked shots per game in those three years proving he is not shy about using his body to impact the play.

The only downside of Roy’s contract in Washington is that the team is now $4.88MM over the cap after factoring in the lost contract of Nicklas Backstrom. To trim up their cap situation, the team may look to move on from T.J. Oshie, Trevor van Riemsdyk, or Ethan Bear in the next couple of days.

Raddysh represents an investment in the team’s middle six, but he may end the 2024-25 season on the Hershey Bears. After a strong showing with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2022-23 regular season, Raddysh experienced a downfall last year as he only mustered five goals and 14 points in 73 games. He did show some strengths on the defensive side of the puck; however, which may have led the Capitals to give him a $1MM deal for next season.

Senators Trade Jakob Chychrun To Capitals

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The Washington Capitals have acquired defenseman Jakob Chychrun from the Ottawa Senators, per a team announcement. Ottawa is receiving defenseman Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round pick in return. The deal comes nearly a year and a half after the Senators acquired Chychrun from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a 2023 first-round pick, a 2024 second-round pick, and a 2026 second-round pick.

Chychrun should immediately step into a top-four position on the Capitals blue line next to a shutdown defenseman. On a subpar Senators team, Chychrun put up 14 goals and 41 points in 82 games with 16 of those points coming while on the team’s powerplay.

There is some critique of Chychrun’s game on the defensive side of the puck as he finished the 2023-24 season with a -30 rating on the team’s top-pairing. In Chychrun’s defense, Ottawa was plagued by uniquely bad goaltending during the regular season which could have also factored into Chychrun’s 88.0% on-ice save percentage in all situations. The young defenseman finished the year with an expected +/- of 0.4 according to HockeyReference which shows some of Chychrun’s poor defensive metrics were in part due to the Senators’ style of play.

Heading to Ottawa is Jensen who has two years remaining on a three-year, $12.12MM extension signed with Washington towards the end of the 2022-23 regular season. Heading into the 2023-24 season, Jensen was coming off a stretch of 153 games with the Capitals in which he scored 10 goals and 50 points from the blue line. Jensen would only score one goal and 14 points in 79 games for the Capitals this season in a disappointing follow-up.

Becoming more apparent by the day that Chychrun was unwilling to sign an extension with the Senators, the team can get out from under his contract while keeping their defensive structure in place. Chychrun will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season as the 26-year-old defenseman is approaching the end of a six-year, $27.6MM contract originally signed with the Arizona Coyotes.

Capitals Re-Sign Connor McMichael

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The Washington Capitals have re-signed forward Connor McMichael to a two-year, $4.2MM contract. The deal will carry an annual cap hit of $2.1MM. McMichael was Washington’s last restricted free agent after the team traded Beck Malenstyn to the Buffalo Sabres.

McMichael stood as Washington’s biggest hurdle this summer. He played in all 82 games this season, recording 18 goals and 33 points, successfully besting the meager 18 points, split evenly, that he managed as a rookie in the 2021-22 season. McMichael gapped the two NHL years with a Calder Cup-winning season with the Hershey Bears, scoring 39 points in 57 AHL games along the way.

McMichael was selected 25th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, following a 72-point season with the OHL’s London Knights. He quickly vindicated the selection, potting 102 points in just 52 games in his last season in the OHL. But he hasn’t gotten off to the smash start at the pro level that many hoped for. Instead, he’s starting to slowly find his footing as a centerman capable of being leaned on down the lineup. He’s a flashy, high-energy forward when he finds his stride, though those moments can sometimes be few and far between. A two-year deal will give McMichael, who’s still just 23, a chance to further solidify his NHL standing and craft an argument for a raise when he becomes a restricted free agent in 2026.

Capitals Re-Sign Ethen Frank, Chase Priskie, Mitchell Gibson

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July 1, 9:01 a.m.: Washington has made both of these depth extensions official, also inking RFA goalie Mitchell Gibson to a one-year, two-way deal ($775K NHL/$100K AHL). Gibson, 25, was a fourth-round pick of the Caps in 2018. Last year was his first pro season after a four-year career at Harvard. He played mostly with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays, recording a .899 SV%, 2.56 GAA and three shutouts in 42 games.

June 30, 8:14 p.m.: Just hours after issuing a qualifying offer to Ethen Frank, the Capitals have reached an agreement on a new contract with him.  PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that they’ve re-signed the forward to a two-year contract.  The NHL portion is the minimum of $775K in both years while the AHL salary is $250K next season before converting to a one-way agreement for 2025-26.

Meanwhile, PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that the Caps have also re-signed pending UFA blueliner Chase Priskie to a one-year, two-way agreement.  The deal pays $775K in the NHL and $400K in the minors.

Frank only has two full professional seasons under his belt after a five-year NCAA career.  In his rookie campaign, the 26-year-old put up a strong 30 goals and 19 assists in 57 games with AHL Hershey.

This past season, he followed it up with a similarly strong showing, notching 29 goals and 18 assists in 64 regular season games.  Despite that, he didn’t receive a recall from Washington during the season.  Frank finished up on a high note, collecting 10 goals and seven assists in 18 postseason appearances, helping the Bears take home the Calder Cup.

As for Priskie, the 28-year-old has four career NHL appearances under his belt from 2021-22 with Florida but has played exclusively in the minors since then.  This season, he had eight goals and 26 assists in 69 games with Hershey before adding 14 more points in 20 playoff contests.  He’s in line to play a big role for them again next season.

Capitals Were Not Looking To Move Malenstyn

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  • Sammi Silber of The Hockey News reports that the Washington Capitals previously had zero intentions of moving forward Beck Malenstyn this summer but the Buffalo Sabres gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse. After scoring six goals and 21 points in 81 games for the Capitals this season in a middle-six role, the organization moved Malenstyn for the 43rd overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft. Washington used the pick to select defenseman Cole Hutson out of the US National Team Development Program after scoring 15 goals and 51 points in 51 games.

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