The Washington Capitals are undergoing a youth movement this season, especially at the center position, after losing veterans Nicklas Backstrom to injury and Evgeny Kuznetsov to the Carolina Hurricanes in a trade. Two of the team’s top three pivots in the lineup currently are 23-year-old Connor McMichael and 22-year-old Hendrix Lapierre — Capitals’ first-round picks from 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Connor and Hendrix’s latest big test comes against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Wednesday night where they could, at times, end up skating against Connor McDavid, the league’s best player. McDavid has scored over 100 points in seven of the last eight seasons, posting a career high 153 points (64g 89a) in 2022-23.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery wants his two young guns to embrace those difficult shifts and show the reigning three-time MVP what they can do.
Well, when it’s realistic.
“As a young player, sometimes they just get resigned to the fact that it’s Connor McDavid and then okay, well…,” Carbery said shrugging as if the player was giving up. “But for [Hendrix Lapierre] and Connor McMichael, these young players, they’re trying to prove they’re great players (and) they’re going to be great players in this league, too.
“So it’s a great challenge for them in meaningful games to be able to play against the best players in the world. Push the envelope. Are you going to dominate Connor McDavid? No. But can you sit there and go toe-to-toe with him for shifts and defend him well and win some draws. So that’s what I draw with those young guys and try to help them through as they go down this final stretch.”
Lapierre, who has split the season between Washington and Hershey, has spent the last handful of games centering his childhood idol Alex Ovechkin on the first line, receiving some of the most difficult matchups possible from the opposing team. With the Capitals in Edmonton, the Oilers will get last change further amplifying the difficulty for the young French Canadian.
“I talked to him before just about overall coming down this backstretch of this season,” Carbery said. “Not just his performance but he’s going to be put in some situations, especially I talked to him specifically about the road trip, when you don’t control matchups and changes, you’re going to have some difficult ones especially playing with Ovi and playing against some of the teams we’re playing. Usually they’ve got a top six that is going pretty good. Embrace it.”
Carbery has done his best to protect and set-up Lapierre for success this year, giving the center 69 percent of his starts in the offensive zone at five-on-five. With Lapierre on the ice this season, the Capitals have been out-attempted (327-269), out-chanced (142-112), and out high-danger’d (63-47), but the team is even in goals (16-16).
Lapierre has been hot lately, tallying eight points in his last eight games. That includes five goals. McMichael, who has 24 points (12g 12a) in 64 games this season, has spent most of the season skating with Aliaksei Protas and, before he was traded, Anthony Mantha, forming the team’s most consistent line this season.
This might explain why Ovechkin was undaunted when asked about how the Capitals will handle the one-two punch of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who are skating on different lines this season.
“Well we have Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre on different lines so… we’re good,” he said smiling.
