Justin Sourdif was one of only two offseason additions to the Washington Capitals’ roster, arriving from the Florida Panthers in a late June trade. The Capitals paid a somewhat head-scratching price for the inexperienced, 23-year-old winger, but general manager Chris Patrick expressed that it was a price they were willing to pay for a player they had long coveted.
“He’s a guy we’ve liked for a few years,” Patrick said in June. “We’ve tried to get him a couple times from Florida. We see a guy that’s competitive, smart, can play wing and center, plays both special teams at the AHL level. They had a bunch of people calling on him, so it got to be a competitive situation.”
Sourdif has now been at camp with the Capitals for almost a week, giving the team’s coaching staff a more comprehensive look at what they have. While Sourdif started camp in a no-contact jersey due to illness, he was a full participant on Tuesday, leading head coach Spencer Carbery to comment on what he’s seeing from him this fall.
“I would probably say just the way he moves,” Carbery said. “He’s got that agility/dartiness to him where he’s in and out of areas. He’s quick, whether it’s a tight turn, a spin. And that’s a very valuable skill in professional hockey. So that’s the biggest thing I’ve noticed. I think he’s also an intelligent player. I think he competes hard. He is a guy that can go to really high traffic areas.
“I think those would probably be the biggest. I’d like to see him in a game. Hopefully, that’s going to happen soon here. We’ll see if it’s Thursday or not. We’ll continue to learn more and more once he gets some games in there.”
Sourdif does have some prior NHL experience, appearing in four games for the Panthers over the past two seasons and scoring his first career goal last year.
The British Columbia native spent the vast majority of the 2024-25 campaign with the Charlotte Checkers, notching 34 points (16g, 18a) in 43 games. He added 10 points (4g, 6a) in 18 AHL playoff games as the Checkers advanced to the Calder Cup Finals.
Sourdif, who will wear jersey number 34 this season with the Capitals, started training camp on the left wing of Nic Dowd and Brandon Duhaime’s checking line. Given that he’s not a waivers-exempt player, Sourdif will need to keep that position or stay on the team’s roster as an extra forward. If he doesn’t, the Capitals risk losing him for nothing on waivers if they try to send him down to the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
The former third-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft won’t be left without heated competition at camp, as he’ll be fighting for a spot on the Capitals’ NHL roster with names like Hendrix Lapierre, Sonny Milano, Bogdan Trineyev, Ethen Frank, and Henrik Rybinski.
The Capitals have five games left on their preseason schedule, starting with a matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. Carbery revealed Tuesday that Sourdif and Martin Fehervary, who had both donned no-contact jerseys to start camp, are options to play at Hershey’s Giant Center.
