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Capitals send Hendrix Lapierre back to junior

By Ian Oland

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November 10, 2021 10:55 am

After starting the season in the NHL, Hendrix Lapierre will finish the year in junior. The Washington Capitals assigned the 19-year-old rookie to Acadie-Bathurst Titan of QMJHL on Wednesday.

Lapierre scored one goal in six games with the Capitals. If the 2020 first-round pick would have played in 10 NHL games total, the Capitals would not have been able to allow the first year of his entry-level contract to slide (or begin) until next season.

Lapierre made the Capitals, in a surprise, after leading the team in preseason points along with Evgeny Kuznetsov.

The French Canadian scored in his NHL debut, but only played more than 10 minutes once since that Opening Night game. With several regulars out of the lineup with injuries such as Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie, Anthony Mantha, and Nic Dowd, the Capitals needed someone they could give a bigger role to.

Lapierre will now join Acadie-Bathurst after being traded by the Chicoutimi Sagueneens over the offseason.

Acadie-Bathurst gave up a lot to acquire him.

The Acadie-Bathurst Titan have acquired Washington Capitals prospect Hendrix Lapierre and a 2023 seventh-round pick from the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in exchange for forwards Julien Bourget and Alexis Dube, first round picks in 2022 and 2023, as well as a 2022 third-round pick and 2023 fourth-round pick.

Lapierre will also be able to participate in the 2022 World Junior Championship if he is chosen by Team Canada (which seems like a no brainer now).

More from the Capitals:

Capitals Assign Hendrix Lapierre to Acadie-Bathurst

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have assigned forward Hendrix Lapierre to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today.

Lapierre, 19, recorded a goal in six games with the Capitals this season. With a goal in Washington’s season opener on Oct. 13 against the New York Rangers, the 6’0”, 180-pound forward became the seventh teenager in franchise history to score in his NHL debut, the fifth-youngest to score (19 years, 246 days) and the first since Andre Burakovsky during the 2014-15 season.

During the 2020-21 season at the junior level, the Gatineau, Quebec, native ranked eighth in the QMJHL in points per game (1.48) after recording 31 points (8g, 23a) in 21 games with Chicoutimi SaguenĂ©ens. Lapierre led Chicoutimi in assists and ranked second on the team in points. He recorded nine multi-point games, including a career high four points (2g, 2a) vs. the Shawinigan Cataractes on Oct. 2, 2020. Lapierre also recorded 12 points (5g, 7a) in nine playoff games. Additionally, Lapierre was named one of the QMJHL’s Scholastic Players for the month of December 2020.

Lapierre was traded to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan from Chicoutimi on June 23.

Lapierre spent the 2019-20 season with Chicoutimi, recording 17 points (2g, 15a) in 19 games. He recorded 11 points (3g, 8a) in five games at the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, leading all skaters in the tournament in points and helped Team Canada earn a silver medal.

In the 2018-19 season, Lapierre won the Michel Bergeron as the QMJHL Offensive Rookie of the Year after recording 45 points (13g, 32a) in 48 games with Chicoutimi.

The Capitals selected Lapierre with the 22nd overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. Washington traded their 24th overall pick and their 80th overall pick to the Calgary Flames to acquire the 22nd overall pick.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB

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