Silbsy's Corner: Takeaways From GM Chris Patrick's Availability & The Capitals' Busy Draft Weekend
The Capitals kept busy at the 2025 NHL Draft. Here’s everything to know.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — Well, it’s been a busy past 48 hours for the Washington Capitals — and for me, personally.
The offseason does not mean any time off for me; I’m continuing my Capitals coverage and find myself at a rink every other day, whether it be for beer league or the draft or development camp or other insights.
In this past week’s case, I was back at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, the team’s hub for the decentralized 2025 NHL Draft. As stick and pucks and rec hockey games took place on the Capitals’ vacant rink, Washington’s front office staff was keeping busy in the team’s war room, making phone calls and selecting top prospects.
Besides four forwards and a defenseman in the draft, Washington also made a couple of trades, acquiring forward Justin Sourdif and defenseman Declan Chisholm. All the while, general manager Chris Patrick is in touch with the team’s pending RFAs and UFAs as he keeps his eyes on the market.
Here are all the takeaways from draft weekend, thoughts on the picks and everything I’m hearing that’s Capitals related:
Capitals Looking At All Options To Add Another Forward
Patrick noted that the Capitals are looking at all options regarding their $9.3 million in cap space, whether that means going all in to add a bigger name or spreading the funds out to bring in a variety of players. Management is also keeping in mind that there are several prospects waiting for their NHL opportunity, too, but the need is to bring in another skilled forward.
That said, Washington will try its best to make the right moves on July 1. Connor McMichael offers the team a lot of flexibility, too, considering he can play center or wing, so D.C. doesn’t necessarily have to worry about exact position when it comes to that potential forward add.
Capitals Still In Talks With Pending Free Agents
Washington is still in talks with Anthony Beauvillier, Andrew Mangiapane, Taylor Raddysh and Lars Eller and will see where those conversations go from an economic standpoint. If there’s a deal to be made, Patrick will go for it, but if it’s not affordable, the team will go in a different direction.
Patrick noted that several players are looking for a raise.
As for restricted free agents, Hendrix Lapierre seems to be on track to sign a bridge deal as he looks to try and show he can be a full-time NHLer going forward. It doesn’t look like Alex Alexeyev will get a qualifying offer and it seems his time in D.C. is done with Declan Chisholm coming in.
Capitals Have Another Strong Draft
Overall, I give Washington a solid B+ grade when it comes to their 2025 NHL Draft.
Lynden Lakovic is a strong pick at No. 27, a 6-foot-4 forward with sneaky good playmaking ability and an absolutely lethal shot. Kid shoots 100 pucks a day and loves to play the game, and he makes every puck touch count. And ultimately, D.C. was able to land another first-round talent in Swedish center Milton Gästrin, who fell to No. 37 (much to the team’s surprise and elation).
He’s a strong two-way player who can make plays around the net and has size, speed and the hockey IQ to be a difference maker, and to make it even better, the player who he tries to model his game after is Gabriel Landeskog, while he’s also hoping to be as good as Nicklas Backstrom one day. Gästrin’s journey also came full circle as he joined his childhood favorite team in the Capitals.
After those top two picks, Washington made some more depth moves and traded down to No. 96 to take Maxim Schäfer. The German winger is an aggressive forechecker with the size and speed to be a good bottom-6 forward one day. In addition, the Caitals rounded out the class with fifth and sixth-round selections and took Jackson Crowder, a competitive checking center and responsible two-way player out of the USHL, and 6-foot-4 defenseman Aron Dahlqvist, who absolutely punishes his opponents and never says no to throwing a hit.
Overall, a solid draft with a lot of promise. Assistant general manager Ross Mahoney spoke highly of all the picks, but especially Gästrin, who' he’s looking forward to seeing after the team was worried he’d go much earlier.
High Hopes For Prospects, Justin Sourdif
The Capitals are also looking to Andrew Cristall and Ivan Miroshnichenko to make some noise going forward and to give the coaching staff a difficult decision to make going into next season.
Meanwhile, the team is all in on Justin Sourdif. Washington went for him on a number of occasions and finally landed the 23-year-old in a trade with the Florida Panthers, willing to meet the asking price of a second-rounder and adding a sixth-round pick as a sweetener with other teams trying to outbid D.C. Patrick said he will play full-time at the NHL level next year and can play center or wing, and that the upside is why the team is so confident in his ability.