The Washington Capitals placed forward Matthew Phillips on waivers Thursday.
Phillips will be free to be claimed by any team over the next 24 hours. If he’s not, he can be sent to the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
The news was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. No other players from around the league joined him on waivers.
Phillips (WASH) on waivers
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 15, 2024
Phillips has five points (1g, 4a) in 27 games for the Capitals this season. His last game came on February 8 against the Florida Panthers, his first game in over a month. He skated 8:54 of ice time in that 4-2 loss.
The Capitals likely waived Phillips because they will need an open roster spot for Sonny Milano’s upcoming return to the lineup. Milano has been on injured reserve with an upper-body injury since December 14.
Phillips signed a one-year, one-way contract worth $775,000 with the Capitals this past offseason after receiving personal phone calls from both head coach Spencer Carbery and assistant coach Mitch Love. Love was Phillips’ bench boss in the AHL for the Calgary Wranglers and Stockton Heat and helped convince Phillips to spurn a two-year offer from Calgary in favor of coming to DC.
The 25-year-old forward impressed Carbery in Training Camp and earned an opening-night roster spot on an NHL team for the first time in his career. Phillips would go on to score his first NHL goal and tally his first NHL assist in a revenge game against the Flames on October 16.
After playing in 24 games over the first three months of the season, Phillips found himself in the press box for all but three of the Capitals’ games in 2024. Among players with 20 or more games played, his 10:16 average ice time per game ranks above only Hendrix Lapierre (9:34).
If Phillips does clear waivers, he’d add an impressive AHL scoring resume to an already stacked Hershey Bears team. In 131 games in the AHL from 2021-23, Phillips recorded 144 points (67g, 77a) and led Calgary’s AHL affiliate in scoring both years. The Bears already sport two of the top six goal-scorers in the AHL in Pierrick Dube (24) and Ethen Frank (21).
Hershey holds an impressive 37-9-2 record this season, 11 standings points better than the second-placed team in the league. The Bears’ leading point scorer, Mike Sgarbossa, is currently up with the Capitals and looks like he could play an everyday role on the team for the rest of this season. Phillips would help bolster Hershey in his absence.
