Caps Draft Lapierre, Resign Dillon

On Tuesday night, Washington dealt away a third-round pick (No. 80 overall) to move up two spots (from 24 to 22) in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft. With that selection, the Caps chose center Hendrix Lapierre from Chicoutimi of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Because of a neck injury that wasn't diagnosed as such until February of this year, Lapierre was limited to just 19 games with Chicoutimi this season where he totaled two goals and 17 points. The Quebec League is one of a select few leagues around the globe - and particularly in North America - that has already started its season. With a clean bill of health and playing for the first time since Nov. 21 of last season, Lapierre has three goals and five points in his first two games this season.
"After such a roller coaster year, it's amazing to be able to put that jersey on," said Lapierre in a Zoom call after he was chosen. "I feel like it's really like the cherry on the sundae after a negative season."
Lapierre is the first player Washington has taken from the Quebec League in a decade, since it took winger Stanislav Galiev with the third round of the 2010 NHL Draft and also chose defenseman Samuel Carrier in the sixth round of that draft. Lapierre is just the third QMJHL player chosen in the first round in franchise history, following defenseman Robert Picard (third overall in 1977) and forward Reggie Savage (15th overall in 1988).

Most mock drafts had Lapierre going somewhere in the range where the Caps chose him, but many of those draft gurus also noted that he has top 10 talent and would have been chosen much earlier if not for the injury concerns.
Lapierre is a skilled pivot who is projected as a first line center in the NHL. The Red Line Report likens his playing style to that of Carolina center Sebastian Aho, and RLR says: "Super skilled; could easily be top 10 if not for injuries."
The Caps are hoping Lapierre is the latest in a string of successes picking between 20-30 in the first round. Beginning in 2004, the Caps pulled defensemen Jeff Schultz (No. 27) and Mike Green (No. 29). They chose goaltender Semyon Varlamov at No. 23 in 2006, defenseman John Carlson at No. 27 in 2008, forward Marcus Johansson at No. 24 in 2009, center Evgeny Kuznetsov at No. 26 in 2010, left wing Andre Burakovsky at No. 23 in 2013 and goaltender Ilya Samsonov at No. 22 in 2014. All became NHL regulars and all will or have played 400 or more games in the league. (Burakovsky is still 14 games shy of that plateau.)
The jury is still out on defenseman Lucas Johansen (No. 28 in 2016) and center Connor McMichael (No. 25 in 2019). Their only misses in that range since 2004 were defenseman Joe Finley (No. 27 in 2005) and center Anton Gustafsson (No. 21 in 2008).
As the second day of the 2020 NHL Draft dawns on Wednesday, Washington has three picks remaining: a fourth-rounder (No. 117 overall), a fifth-rounder (No. 148) and a sixth-rounder (No. 179). We will have more on Lapierre and the rest of the Caps' 2020 draft class later in the week.
Earlier in the day, the Caps experienced a good news/bad news afternoon with their blueline corps. The good news was the re-signing of defenseman Brenden Dillon to a four-year contract extension worth a total of $15.6 million, carrying a salary cap hit of $3.9 million over the course of the deal. Dillon was obtained from San Jose in mid-February, and both the team and player were interested in continuing the relationship.

The other side of that coin was the news that hard luck defenseman Michal Kempny suffered a second debilitating lower body injury in just over 18 months, a torn Achilles' ailment that requires surgery and will keep him on the sidelines for 6-8 months. Kempny suffered a torn hamstring in March of 2019, an injury that also required surgery and months of subsequent rehab that caused him to miss training camp and a handful of games at the start of last season.
Kempny sustained the injury while doing his offseason workouts in his native Czech Republic.
"It's unfortunate that he got injured, and we've got to live with it," says Caps executive vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan. "Obviously defense is going to be a priority for us here as we establish our roster. Luckily, we got Dillon signed and we're going to active - hopefully - in the defense market."
Washington will be able to get long term injury relief from Kempny's annual salary cap hit of $2.5 million and will be able to use that savings toward filling the resulting hole on the blueline in his absence.
"There are defensemen out there," says MacLellan. "We've been going through it for a few weeks and even longer. We have a pretty good sense of what the market is going to be, and we'll figure it out over the next few days, which way we want to go with it."