Blog

The Washington Capitals’ offseason of changes continued on Saturday when the club acquired Logan Thompson in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Washington parted with a 2024 third-round pick and a 2025 third-round pick to acquire Thompson, allowing the Capitals to bolster a roster that was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs while captain Alex Ovechkin continues his quest to break Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record.

Signing a goalie became a priority for the Capitals after they traded Darcy Kuemper and acquired top-six center Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Los Angeles Kings in one of the first big deals of the offseason.

On Thursday, the Capitals completed a trade with the Calgary Flames to acquire winger Andrew Mangiapane, who scored 14 goals and 40 points in 74 games during the 2023-24 season.

In Thompson, the Capitals now have a Stanley Cup winner and NHL All-Star who went 25-14-5 with a 2.70 goals-against average and .908 save percentage in the regular season. He also posted a 2.35 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in four games before the Golden Knights turned to Adin Hill. The then-defending champions were eliminated in the first round by the Dallas Stars.

This means that the Capitals have a tandem of Charlie Lindgren and Thompson for the coming season. The club still has flexibility as both will be unrestricted free agents after next season.

For the Golden Knights, Hill has one year left on his contract, while it appears they already have Thompson’s replacement in the system in Jiri Patera. The 25-year-old Patera, who played six games with the Golden Knights this season, played the last three seasons for the club’s AHL affiliate.

Vegas took less than two hours to find a replacement for Thompson, receiving goalie Akira Schmid and forward Alexander Holtz from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for forward Paul Cotter and a 2025 third-round pick.

Schmid took a step back in the 2023-24 season after showing promise the year before. Schmid posted a 5-9-1 record with a 3.15 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage after finishing the 2023 postseason with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage.

The lack of consistency led to Schmid being demoted to the AHL, where he had a 3.06 goals-against average and a .894 save percentage.

Holtz was the seventh pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. He spent several seasons switching between the NHL and AHL before becoming a full-time NHL player in 2023-24. He finished the season with 16 goals and 28 points in 82 games.

Holtz, who has one year left on his contract at a salary of $894,167, now has a total of 11 forwards under contract with the Golden Knights.

In Cotter, the Devils have someone who could either add depth to the bottom six or potentially compete for a position in the middle six. He has seven goals and 25 points in 76 games in the 2023-24 season after already scoring 13 goals in 55 games in the 2022-23 season.