Capitals Bolster Defensive Depth With Chisholm, Alexeyev Appears To Be Done In D.C.
The Capitals are making some changes to their defensive depth.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — After seeing Martin Fehervary go down with a season-ending injury right before the Stanley Cup Playoffs and being unable to completely fill the void, the Washington Capitals knew they had to bring in more help on the blue line.
So, they chose to do that through the trade market, and before making their 96th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, acquired RFA defenseman Declan Chisholm and the 180th pick from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for UFA rearguard Chase Priskie and pick No. 123.
“We wanted to address our defensive depth this offseason,” general manager Chris Patrick said. “Can you go into the free agent market? You don’t have control over the costs. It was a good chance to try to do that (with RFA Chisholm). We like where he’s trending as a player, another guy that’s the right age, and I think he’s gonna have an opportunity here to continue to build on what he’s done in Minnesota.”
Chisholm played the role of a depth defenseman with the Wild, picking up 12 points through 66 games while averaging 16:59 minutes per night. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound left-handed blueliner is a good skater and puck-mover who makes a good first pass, and he has a lot of upside at 25 years old.
He’s the kind of defender the Capitals need: one with good speed and skating ability who has a lot of NHL experience and can jump into the lineup when needed without skipping a beat.
“It’s an area that you can always improve on. It’s a hard area having seven really good D, you have a really good defenseman that’s not happy, but I think it just gives us a lot of options during this offseason here,” Patrick noted. “We’re glad we' were able to get him and he’s really excited to come here. He sees where our organization is going and he’s ready to be part of something special.”
With Chisholm joining the mix, it likely spells the end of Alex Alexeyev’s tenure in D.C. The pending RFA doesn’t seem likely to receive a qualifying offer, which would make him an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his still-young career.
Alexeyev appeared in just eight regular-season games for Washington this past season before drawing in for all 10 playoff games amid the injury to Fehervary.
“For Alex, he’s a young guy that didn’t get to play a bunch of games this year. I think it’s important for him to get an opportunity at the NHL level, if that’s with us or if that’s with somebody else. We’re going to be as helpful as we can to him to get him the best opportunity to play in the NHL next year.”
At the end of the day, Chisholm is looking forward to showing what he can bring to the table in D.C.
"He’s really excited to come here. He sees where our organization is going and he’s ready to be part of something special,” Patrick noted.