Hendrix Lapierre watched the Washington Capitals dismantle the New York Rangers from the press box on Tuesday night. The 22-year-old center was taken out of the club’s lineup by head coach Spencer Carbery after going without a point in seven games to start the year.
Despite Washington’s superb start to the 2024-25 campaign, the team’s third line, which Lapierre had been manning down the middle, has struggled to contribute much to that early-season success. Those struggles led to Carbery swapping Lapierre out for recently recalled Mike Sgarbossa against New York.
After the team’s practice on Wednesday, the second-year bench boss was asked what Lapierre needs to do to recover his position. Washington plays next against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
“There’s a lot of stuff that we’ve talked to him about early in the season, even dating back to the preseason, some things that are really important to his identity as a player,” Carbery said. “And he’s done some good things, too. It just is being consistent with that.”
The Capitals have not struggled with Lapierre on the ice five-on-five this season, but his numbers relative to the rest of his teammates have lagged. With the young pivot over the boards, Washington is seeing a respectable 51.9 percent of the shot attempts, 54.7 percent of the expected goals, 51.8 percent of the scoring chances, and 49.5 percent of the high-danger chances.
However, perhaps more importantly, from a day-to-day coaching perspective, Washington has been outscored 5-0 during his 59:36 of five-on-five ice time. Comparatively, Lapierre had the sixth-best goals-for percentage (48.8 percent) among the club’s regular skaters last season.
“I think I said this yesterday, he was up and down [from the AHL] last year at various points in the year,” Carbery said. “And the way he played, especially in really meaningful games and in games against good teams, playoff games, games down the stretch from game 70 to 82, those are some difficult games – [and] he was a very impactful player for us.
“He was able to show some offensive capabilities that he has with his skating, with his controlled entries, with his ability to attack, make good decisions. Then he was really reliable defensively, and made good decisions, good reads, was able to close as a centerman, which has a lot of responsibility. I think it’s just him getting back to the player that we know, and he knows he’s capable of being at this level.”
Lapierre recorded 22 points (8g, 14a) in 51 games for the Capitals last season and then was one of the most effective skaters in their short, four-game playoff series against the Rangers. His two points (1g, 1a) in those four games ranked tied for second on the team behind just Martin Fehervary (3) and Tom Wilson (3).
“Sometimes, as a young player in the league, you go through ups and downs and a bit of adversity,” Carbery said. “This is just one of those moments for him in his career that he’s going through a little bit of adversity, but he’ll be better for it, or I believe he’ll be better for it coming out of it.”
Washington’s practice on Wednesday was optional, so the team did not run their full line rushes. The first indication of whether or not Lapierre immediately regains his spot on the third line will likely come at Thursday’s morning skate before the game against Montreal.
However, the Capitals are also sorting through major injury issues on their backend, and they may need a recall for the game due to Alex Alexeyev potentially being unavailable for personal reasons. As they have no available roster spot, Washington could need to utilize Lapierre’s waivers-exempt status to get a healthy rearguard up from Hershey quickly.
