The Washington Capitals have made another recall after losing a player to injury in three straight games. Hendrix Lapierre got the call-up Friday afternoon, re-joining the roster after TJ Oshie suffered an injury against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Caps also placed center Nic Dowd on injured reserve in a corresponding move, opening up space on the 23-man roster for Lapierre’s call-up.
Oshie exited midway through the third period Thursday night with an apparent non-contact injury. Head coach Spencer Carbery said postgame that his concern was “fairly high” for the 37-year-old winger, who has missed 17 games so far in 2023-24. After the team’s practice on Friday, Carbery provided an update on Oshie’s status.
“Obviously left the game and we’ll just continue to monitor him,” he said. “I don’t think this is, you know, skating today or tomorrow situation. I don’t want to tell you anything definitively on timeline or anything like that. We’ll just continue to monitor him.”
Oshie’s injury marked the second time the team had lost a forward in three days, coming shortly after Nic Dowd suffered an upper-body injury early into Tuesday’s matchup against the New Jersey Devils. Carbery told reporters after the game that Dowd would be out day-to-day and would not travel with the team to Florida.
Defenseman Martin Fehervary also remains week-to-week after going down with a lower-body injury against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
Lapierre has already gotten a few looks looks from the Capitals this season, suiting up for 25 games and scoring seven points (2g, 5a) in that span. At the AHL level, Lapierre has recorded 17 points (5g, 12a) in 21 games for the Hershey Bears and scored his second career hat trick against the Belleville Senators on Monday.
Carbery praised Lapierre’s season Thursday morning, naming him as one of several Bears players who had earned a call-up.
“[Pierrick] Dubé, [Alex] Limoges, Ethen Frank all had real good camps and had tremendous years…[Clay] Stevenson, Lappy (Hendrix Lapierre),” he said. “You go down the list. I mean, it’s hard not to when a team is doing as well as Hershey is…a lot of guys deserving.”
Here’s the full press release from the Capitals:
Capitals Recall Hendrix Lapierre
Forward has recorded seven points in 25 games with Washington this season
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have recalled forward Hendrix Lapierre from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL), president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today.
Lapierre, 21, has recorded seven points (2g, 5a) in 25 games with the Capitals this season. The 6’0”, 188-pound forward recorded his second multi-point game (1g, 1a) of the season on Dec. 20 vs. the New York Islanders, which followed a three-point effort (1g, 2a) on Nov. 18 vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets.
In 21 games with Hershey this season, Lapierre has registered 17 points (5g, 12a). Lapierre has recorded nine points (3g, 6a) in his last 10 games since being loaned to Hershey on Jan. 23, including his second career AHL hat trick on Feb. 19 at Belleville.
Lapierre, the Capitals’ first-round choice (22nd overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft, recorded 30 points (15g, 15a) in 60 games during his first professional season with Hershey in 2022-23. Lapierre ranked second among Hershey rookies in goals, points, power-play points (10) and shots (114). In addition, Lapierre ranked third on the Bears in power-play goals (5). Lapierre added six points (3g, 3a) in 20 playoff games, including the game-tying goal in Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals. Lapierre has registered 47 points (20g, 27a) in 81 career AHL games with Hershey.
The Gatineau, Quebec native appeared in six games with the Capitals during the 2021-22 season. Lapierre made his NHL debut and scored his first career goal versus the New York Rangers on Oct. 13, 2021, becoming the first Capitals rookie since 2014-15 to make his NHL debut at the age of 19 and the fifth-youngest player in franchise history to score in his debut. In 31 career NHL games with Washington, Lapierre has recorded eight points (3g, 5a).
