HERSHEY, PA — The plan for Hendrix Lapierre was to stay with the Hershey Bears for most of the 2023-24 season to continue his development. But after legendary centerman Nicklas Backstrom stepped away from the Washington Capitals in November, Evgeny Kuznetsov was traded at the deadline, and several forwards struggled with long-term injuries, Lapierre became an every night player in the NHL for much of the Caps’ 2023-24 season, suiting up in 51 of the the team’s 82 regular-season games and all four in the playoffs.
By the end of the year, Lapierre showed he belonged and was a game breaker at times in the NHL: he centered Alex Ovechkin on the first line for a spell, netted his first three-point game, notched his first multiple-goal game, became a secret weapon in three-on-three overtime, and scored his first career postseason goal going one-on-four.
Back with the Bears for perhaps the final time, Lapierre is getting an opportunity to center Hershey’s first line with two of the team’s 20-goal scorers — Ethen Frank and Alex Limoges — and be a team leader as the Capitals’ AHL affiliate attempts to repeat and win its 13th Calder Cup championship. Bears’ head coach Todd Nelson is depending on Lapierre to play in all situations, including the penalty kill, similar to the role Connor McMichael served last year.
“Every time I’m on the ice in this organization, whether it’s in Hershey or the Capitals, I want to make an impact, I want to be a good player,” Lapierre told RMNB after Game 1 on Wednesday. “I want to obviously show that I can be an impactful player — that I can be relied on whether it’s an offensive or defensive situation, I can play on PK or power play whatever it might be. I want to make an impact but at the same time we’re trying to win and everything. It’s all about winning and at the end of the day if I play well and all the guys do play well too, then we’ll be able to have success.”
He added, “It was fun up there (in Washington) but now it’s time to move on for this year and concentrate on the Hershey run for the next two months,” a not-so-subtle hint that his expectations are reaching the AHL finals again.
During the team’s championship run last spring, Lapierre, an AHL rookie, served as the third-line center, skating primarily with Aliaksei Protas and Sam Anas. He had a smaller role and faced less pressure to contribute offensively. Lapierre tallied six points (3g, 3a) in 20 playoff games.
“Obviously I feel like a different player than last year on the ice in terms of confidence,” Lapierre said. “I think it’s normal, right? You compare when you’re 21 to 22 years old, that’s a lot of hockey (since then). When you try to learn new stuff every day, eventually good things happen.
“[I’m] way more comfortable,” he added. “I know exactly what situation I’m going to be put in and been learning a lot from the vets here and the vets up in Washington so (I’m) super comfortable. Last year there were a couple times I was just struggling to find my confidence, find out what I was doing right or wrong, and I feel like now I know exactly where my game is at. I’m just more comfortable with the guys. I talk a lot, I still talked a lot last year, but if there’s stuff to say, I’ll say it. I know everything that’s going on around here. I think it helps a lot. We have a good group of guys, good group of people, so it’s always fun to be here.”
In Lapierre’s first game of the AHL playoffs (Round 2 of the Atlantic Division semifinals) he scored in the first period — but not in a way you’d typically expect for a first-round pick. Set up in front of the net, Lapierre redirected a Chase Priskie point shot past Phantoms goaltender Cal Petersen, showing he’s not afraid to go to dirty areas.
Staying on the ice for the next center ice face-off, Lapierre was sprung on a breakaway seconds later but could not convert.
“Lappy, he could have had two goals right there in the first eight minutes,” Nelson said. “He got a breakaway right after he scored. He looked good.”
While most fans might think that coming to the AHL from the NHL means offense comes easier, there is a different, more chaotic rhythm to AHL hockey that can be a challenge.
“There always is an adjustment,” Nelson said. “When you come down from the National Hockey League, it’s more difficult to come down than go back up. It just is, just because the game’s a bit more scramble-y.”
“It’s very different the way the game is played from the NHL to here,” Lapierre noted. “It’s tough to explain in words. I think in the NHL guys use their brain to make a lot of smart plays, I feel like here it’s more a grind. It’s pucks deep, you hit. It’s a very different style of hockey and so you have to adjust to it. Obviously the system is not too bad, it’s pretty much the same thing so there’s not a lot of adjustment there.
“I find for the first couple of games a little tougher to come back here, then eventually you can get settled to the pace of play. But I found that every time I would get sent down this year, there was maybe two or three games where I struggled a little bit and eventually you get caught up to it… It’s super good players so it’s still a lot of fun, really intense.”
As for the small, individual victories he had in the NHL playoffs, Lapierre was too competitive to focus on them at this point of his career.
“I mean, we lost (the series against the New York Rangers) 4-0 so I don’t think I have a favorite moment really,” he said. “The first couple shifts at Madison Square Garden that was pretty fun, and then the first couple shifts at Capital One. I feel like the first game was a little bit of a learning experience but then you get super comfortable after Games 2, 3, 4. I felt way better than I did in the first game.
“I don’t know if I had a favorite moment from [the NHL] playoffs, we lost 4-0, but it was a great experience for myself and the young guys, just trying to see what it is. So now, I’m going to go back, and when we’re in that situation again, we’ll know exactly what to expect. We’ll be ready.”
