The Capitals Bet Big On Justin Sourdif. Their Gamble's Paying Off Big Time

The Capitals took a big gamble on Justin Sourdif, and they're seeing the benefits as he embraces the second-line center role.

WASHINGTON — It hasn’t been difficult for the Washington Capitals to see that Justin Sourdif was well worth the gamble.

Washington had their sights set on the rising prospect for years, but when they went to acquire him this summer, the price for his services went up. It cost general manager Chris Patrick a second-round pick, but he didn’t mind paying up, feeling it’d pay off.

It has — and then some.

Missing Pierre-Luc Dubois and Nic Dowd, two vital defensive centers, Sourdif’s been thrown into the second-line center role between Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas, where he’s taken the opportunity and run with it, taking on the position with ease despite having just 27 NHL games under his belt.

“We’re without our two best defensive centermen, and he’s stepping into a role as a guy that’s played under 30 games in the National Hockey League,” coach Spencer Carbery said. “We just overlook it and go, ‘Okay, that’s normal,’ but that’s not normal for him to step into that role or for players in general to step into that role and have that much success.”

Sourdif had two assists — highlight-reel plays that included a behind-the-back pass and a clean face-off win — in Monday’s 5-1 rout of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and now has points in back-to-back games.

Given the role he’s played and his immediate jump to the NHL ranks this season, he’s flown under the radar as a rookie. He started off as the fourth-line right wing, but has since solidified his role on the top-6.

For the 23-year-old, it’s just business as usual.

“I try to, I think I just review a lot of stuff from the games before, things I need to adjust,” Sourdif said, adding, “The guys are so encouraging on the bench, it’s really good. I’m gaining a lot of confidence from that, playing with lots of speed, playing without pucks and trying not to overthink anything.”

Since the start of November, Sourdif leads all Capitals skaters in expected goals-for percentage at 5-on-5 (62.05) and ranks third in scoring-chances for percentage (60.56) and high-danger Corsi-for percentage (64.06).

It took some time to get going production-wise, but he now has four points in his last four games overall as he continues to find his game.

“He has a great knack offensively to get things done and to open up ice,” Wilson said.

Beyond the numbers, though, he’s getting more responsibility and ice time with each game and has embraced being matched up against other team’s top lines and stars, from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to Anze Kopitar.

“He’s stepped in really well. From the minute he got put on our line, he’s taken advantage of it,” Wilson added. “He’s taken on the responsibility. He’s played against some really good players, top lines on other teams, and he’s a really fun kid to have around. He’s pretty easy-going, go with the flow as I’m sure you guys see… it’s been fun to play with him, he’s quick and his game’s growing like crazy right now.”

Of course, it took time to get to this point.

Sourdif didn’t get his big break until this season, as he was fighting for attention in the midst of a deep Florida Panthers roster that won back-to-back Stanley Cups. Still, he admitted that getting more time to develop was actually a benefit.

“I think I needed to spend the time in needed in the American League, I don’t think I was quite where I wanted to be yet, and I was able to grow a lot,” Sourdif said. “I felt like this year, I was able to come step in and hopefully help out the guys and contribute a bit.”

When it comes to his success and progression, Carbery credits that growth to Sourdif’s work ethic.

“It’s been really impressive… he’s strong in the pockets, always has his feet. Feels like he doesn’t get tired at all,” Carbery said. It’s one of probably the best qualities about him is his engine. He can just go and go and go, and it doesn’t drop off.”

As for Sourdif, it’s all part of the plan.

“Just trying to work as hard as I can every day, help the team to win and obviously, we want to make it to the playoffs. That’s our end goal, to win the Cup,” Sourdif said. “Just working every day to accomplish that.”