ARLINGTON, VA — The Washington Capitals have seen their fortunes change in recent weeks, going 4-1-1 in their last six games. That success comes despite a slew of injuries as players got hurt in four consecutive games. But with several veterans out of commission, skaters from down the depth chart have stepped up to fill the void — perhaps even outperforming the players they replaced.
A large part of the team’s recent push has come thanks to its younger players. Aliaksei Protas has seven points (2g, 5a) in the six-game span, Connor McMichael scored four (3g, 1a), and Hendrix Lapierre has more than doubled his career goal total in just two games. Protas and McMichael’s line with Anthony Mantha — one of the Capitals’ best this season — continues to produce, out-chancing opponents 20-10 and outscoring them 3-0 at five-on-five over the six-game stretch.
As the team desperately push for a playoff spot, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery highlighted the value those young players bring to the roster.
“It’s really important for the future of the organization, but also for the right now of: we need anyone. Young veteran, middle aged, American League call-up, whatever your circumstances are individually, to provide us with quality minutes in every situation,” Carbery said after practice on Thursday. “And so for those guys to be thriving and doing a real good job is not only good for our team in the current, because it’s led to some positive results of late, but also for their future and their individual development. So it’s been great to see over the past little stretch.”
Many of the team’s recent contributors came up through the Hershey Bears. Nine players on the 23-man roster have spent time with the Bears over the last two seasons, including five from the 2023 Calder Cup-winning squad. That quintet scored four of the Capitals six goals on Monday—enough to beat the Ottawa Senators on their own.
Carbery may be in his first year with Washington, but he’s had a front row seat to much of the team’s developing talent. Thanks to three years as the Bears’ head coach from 2018-2021, he has had the rare opportunity to follow several players for years. He’s watched some of them grow from gangly teens to productive parts of an NHL roster, forming relationships that would otherwise take years to develop at the NHL level.
Protas and McMichael both played under Carbery in Hershey, as did Mike Sgarbossa, Alex Alexeyev, and Beck Malenstyn. Without discounting the relationships with other players, Carbery admitted there was something special about the bond with his former Bears.
“You get really, really proud because you have so much invested,” he said. “Not that the relationships with other players are — over time, they develop and you become closer — (but) those relationships have gone on for years with a lot of those younger players. So when you see them have success, you know and can really genuinely feel deep down what they’ve been through and how far they’ve come.”
Having worked with players for so long, Carbery knows firsthand what it took for them to get to Washington, making both successes and failures all the more poignant.
“I’m happy for all of our guys, but there’s a little bit of, how should I say it, from a relationship that you know all the stumbles and the successes and the steps back and the send-downs and the call-ups, family dynamics and all that stuff, that makes it pretty special to see them have success. And then also it works the flip way too. The other side of it is when they don’t perform or have stumbles. You get almost more frustrated because it’s like a son, you’re like, ‘come on, you know better than that.’ So it, yeah, it can work both ways.”
Beyond Carbery’s tenure, Bears coach Todd Nelson has left his mark on many of the Capitals’ best prospects. That impact has shown in their record this season, seeing the Bears win 41 of their 53 games so far.
Hendrix Lapierre, who made his AHL debut last season, credited the Bears organization with preparing him for the big leagues.
“I think when you get sent down from time to time, it’s tough. But as you look back, you realize that it was maybe beneficial for you and for your game. I feel like Nelly and the coaching staff, Wellsy (assistant coach Patrick Wellar) Booter (assistant coach Nick Bootland) down there, they do an incredible job preparing us for when we come up here and just what it takes. Putting the extra time, like video, stuff like that.
“So I feel like it’s a really, really good spot. It’s tough for me to compare because I haven’t been anywhere else. But I feel like Hershey is–there’s a reason why there’s a lot of guys that are coming from Hershey and having success here and they always have a good team. So winning itself is a form of growing and stuff like that. So credit to the coaches, credit to the organization. And it’s definitely a fun place to play in the AHL.”
For years, coaches like Carbery and Nelson have worked to mold players in the Capitals’ prospect pipeline. Now, that work is paying off.
