The Washington Capitals announced Monday morning that they have recalled Lucas Johansen from the Hershey Bears and assigned their former first-round pick to their taxi squad.
This will be Johansen’s third stint on the taxi squad this season after his last two appearances were sandwiched between his NHL debut.
NEWS | The Washington Capitals have recalled defenseman Lucas Johansen from the Hershey Bears and have assigned him to the taxi squad.#ALLCAPS | @FTX_Official https://t.co/XNDf5624ph
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 31, 2022
The Capitals have room on their taxi squad after re-assigning Michael Sgarbossa to Hershey and moving Joe Snively to the active roster. Johansen will join goaltender Hunter Shepard as the two current members of the squad.
Johansen has 13 points in 31 games played with the Hershey Bears and is seeing regular game time after struggling through injury the last two seasons. Johansen’s 31 games played in the AHL this year is over double the number of games he has played in the last two seasons combined.
The Capitals’ 2016 first-round selection was the last player selected in that first round to make his debut in the NHL. He did so against the Detroit Red Wings on New Year’s Eve and recorded his first NHL point in the process. His brother, Nashville Predators center Ryan Johansen called it one of the most special days of his life.
Here’s the full press release from the Capitals:
Capitals Re-assign Lucas Johansen from Hershey to Taxi Squad
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have recalled defenseman Lucas Johansen from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL) and have assigned him to the taxi squad, senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today.
Johansen, 24, made his NHL debut and recorded his first NHL point on Dec. 31 versus the Detroit Red Wings. Johansen has recorded 13 points (3g, 10a) and a +16 plus/minus rating in 31 games with Hershey this season. The Vancouver, British Columbia native is on pace to record 28 points this season, which would mark a new single-season AHL career high (2017-18: 6g-21a-27p in 74 games played). In 164 career games with Hershey, Johansen has recorded 58 points (12g, 46a). Johansen was selected with the Capitals’ first-round pick, 28th overall, in the 2016 NHL Draft.
Headline photo: Amanda Bowen/RMNB
