The Washington Capitals announced on Thursday that they have extended bona fide contract offers to prospects Chase Clark, Dru Krebs, and Joaquim Lemay. All three players were selected by the Caps in the 2021 NHL Draft.

According to the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, a bona fide offer is a standard player contract that starts at the beginning of the next league season and offers at least league minimum salary. The offer is open to the player for a minimum of 30 days after receipt. Its purpose is to extend the team’s claim to the player’s rights.

The #Caps have extended bona fide offers to goaltender Chase Clark, and defensemen Joaquim Lemay and Dru Krebs, each selected in the 2021 NHL Draft, to extend their rights.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) June 2, 2022

Clark was a sixth round choice by the Caps out of the Tri-City Storm in the USHL. The towering, young goaltender is committed to attending Quinnipiac University after a 2021-22 season that saw him split twenty games between the Storm and Muskegon Lumberjacks.

Krebs, brother of current Buffalo Sabres forward Peyton Krebs, is a defenseman that was also selected by the Caps in the sixth round in 2021. He has spent the past three seasons in Canadian junior with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers. This season he had 19 points in 66 games with a minus-58 plus-minus rating which is less of a mark on him and more of an indication that he played the most minutes on a truly terrible Tigers team. He signed an amateur tryout agreement with the AHL’s Hershey Bears in late April.

Lemay was the highest of the three picks offered bone fide deals as the Caps took the defenseman 119th overall in the fourth round from the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the BCHL. Lemay spent the 2021-22 season in the USHL with the Lincoln Stars where he was an alternate captain and recorded 46 points in 58 games. He is committed to playing at the University of Nebraska-Omaha next season.

The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir reported Wednesday that 2020 fifth round selection, Bear Hughes was not going to receive a contract offer. Hughes can now re-enter the draft and be selected by another team.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB