The Washington Capitals received some unfortunate news about their most recent first-round draft pick, Lynden Lakovic, on December 12. Lakovic’s WHL team, the Moose Jaw Warriors, announced that the 19-year-old winger would miss the remainder of the 2025-26 season after suffering an upper-body injury that required surgery.
Lakovic had started the 2025-26 season scoring nearly a goal per game with 18 markers in 22 outings before being forced out of Moose Jaw’s lineup. With his final junior season cut short, he will now turn his focus to getting healthy ahead of what will be his first preseason as a professional, and Capitals general manager Chris Patrick expects Lakovic to be ready to work in the fall.
“Yeah, he should be [ready for camp],” Patrick said last week. “I think if he were on an NHL team, they would say, ‘Hey, maybe if we could have a deep playoff run, he might be able to come back.’ I think part of the reason for doing the surgery when he did was that he wanted to be fully ready for training camp.”
The nature of Lakovic’s injury and how it occurred is still not yet known. He was atop the WHL’s goal-scoring leaderboard when he went down, and the Warriors have won just six of the 19 games that they have played without him after his injury. Lakovic has dealt with some unfortunate injury issues for two straight seasons, breaking his collarbone last year and missing two months of his draft-year campaign.
Lakovic impressed at his first NHL training camp with the Capitals before being sent back to the WHL, and signed his three-year, entry-level contract with the Caps last July. He will be eligible to turn pro next season, as he will turn 20 before the end of December 2026.
The West Kelowna native made his NHL preseason debut for the Capitals this past fall, playing 13:52 of ice time against the Boston Bruins. Lakovic, whom the Caps tried to trade up over 10 spots in the first round to select last summer, will be expected to start the 2026-27 campaign in the AHL with the Hershey Bears.
