The Washington Capitals traded for forward Andrew Mangiapane and goaltender Logan Thompson over the span of two days this week. Now, the two newest Capitals picked their jersey numbers for next season.
Mangiapane will don number 88 and Thompson will wear number 48.
Logan Thompson will wear 4️⃣8️⃣ with the Washington Capitals#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/uwYhSynTan
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) June 30, 2024
Thompson’s new number is a change from the number 36 he wore with the Golden Knights. No one signed to an NHL deal with the Capitals wears 36 so Thompson could have stuck with his old number if he wanted to.
The 27-year-old backstop has been thinking about switching to 48 for some time now though. “I may switch here soon,” Thompson told The Athletic’s Jesse Granger in 2022. “I’m thinking about it. I really like 48. I always had 48 as a kid growing up, and no other goalies had it. I like to do my own thing.”
Thompson has worn a slew of different numbers during his pro career and appears to have last worn number 48 with Brock University (2018-19) in Canadian college hockey. His number with the Capitals at their 2018 and 2019 development camps was 35.
No goaltender in Capitals history has ever worn 48. Thompson joins Casey Wellman (2014), Oskar Osala (2009), Chris Corrinet (2002), and Benoit Gratton (1998-1999) as the lone players to wear the number for the franchise.
Andrew Mangiapane will wear 8️⃣8️⃣ with the Washington Capitals#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/e5rCyULXwa
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) June 30, 2024
The 28-year-old Mangiapane is sticking with the number that he wore with the Calgary Flames during his entire NHL stint from 2017 through this last season. He used to wear 26 while in junior with the OHL’s Barrie Colts and then in the AHL with the Stockton Heat.
He was given the number 88 by the Flames at one of his first camps with the team and decided to stick with it.
“Just got it at camp,” Mangiapane told The Athletic’s Julian McKenzie in 2023. “That’s about it. It’s a good number. I don’t think I really had an option to change it or anything like that. I don’t think I was in that position. That was the number they gave me. I’m happy that it wasn’t 87 or something like that.”
Just one other player in Capitals history has worn 88. Nate Schmidt donned the number from 2014 through 2017 before being taken by the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2017 expansion draft.
