Thursday evening, the Caps announced they’ve signed veteran winger Anthony Beauvillier to a two-year, $5.5 million contract to remain in Washington. Beauvillier’s deal carries an annual salary cap hit of $2.75 million. Capable of playing both wings and able to play effectively up and down the lineup, the native of Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, Canada turned 28 less than a month ago, on June 8.
Obtained from Pittsburgh for a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft at the March 7 trade deadline this year, Beauvillier notched two goals and five points in 18 regular season games with Washington following the trade. He added two goals and six points in 10 playoff games with the Caps. Including his time with the Penguins last season, Beauvillier finished the regular season with 15 goals and 25 points in 81 games.
Originally a first-round (28th overall) pick of the New York Islanders in the 2015 NHL Draft, Beauvillier broke in with the Isles as a 19-year-old in 2016-17, and he has played a grand total of just three games at the AHL level over the course of his nine-year pro career. With 631 career NHL games under his belt, Beauvillier ranks ninth among his talented Draft class of 2015. He has totaled 131 goals and 140 assists for 271 points along with 119 penalty minutes across his career in the NHL.
Beauvillier spent the first six and a half seasons of his NHL career with the Islanders; he was traded to Vancouver on Jan. 30, 2023 in the deal that sent Bo Horvat to the Isles. Ten months later, the Canucks dealt Beauvillier to Chicago, who in turn moved him to Nashville on March 7, 2024, exactly a year before he arrived in Washington. Last summer, he inked a one-year deal with Pittsburgh as an unrestricted free agent.
Over his nine-year career, Beauvillier has been a consistent middle six producer, averaging 18 goals and 35 points per 82 games played. He notched career bests with 21 goals in 2017-18, 22 assists in both 2021-22 and 2022-23, and his career best of 40 points came in the ’22-23 season he split between New York and Vancouver.
On exit day in mid-May of this year following the Caps’ ouster from the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, Beauvillier indicated that he enjoyed his two-plus months with the team and would be amenable to returning for the 2025-26 season and beyond.
“Honestly, it’s been such a fun group to be a part of,” said Beauvillier. “Obviously, the success that they’ve had earlier in the year and coming in with a team that has high expectations for the postseason was so fun. It was such an easy group to blend into, and it was fun to go to war with these guys. Obviously, a lot of competitors and the high standard that’s held here, it was just such a fun group to be a part of.
“This is a place where I would love to play here for a long time. Obviously, the group here is special and the city is awesome. We’ve gotten to discover the city a bit more over the last few months, and obviously the fans are great. This would be a place that I would like to play for a long time.”
Beauvillier now joins a long and growing list of players who’ve found themselves coming to the Caps via trade or free agency, and then finding the area, the culture, the staff and the organization enough to their liking to sign a subsequent deal to remain in the District.
With Thursday’s signing of Beauvillier, the Caps have 21 players (a dozen forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders) under contract for the upcoming 2025-26 season, and they still have just over $6 million in salary cap space remaining.
After swinging a pair of deals last week – for forward Justin Sourdif and defenseman Declan Chisholm – and signing defenseman Martin Fehervary to a seven-year, $42 million contract extension, the only imperative on the offseason “to do” list of Caps GM Chris Patrick is to come to terms with restricted free agent forward Hendrix Lapierre.
The Caps have plenty of space with which to take care of that item of business, and should they choose to, they could explore the offseason trade market to try to add the skilled forward that topped their offseason shopping list. That’s no slight on Beauvillier; he is a skilled forward, but the Caps were looking for a top six type with the ability to deliver a couple dozen goals or more.
Last season, both Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas took significant steps forward in their respective careers, and both established themselves as top six talents. Washington has a trio of young forwards on the rise, too, and that group – Lapierre, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Ryan Leonard – also figures to be in contention for opening night roster berths.
As far as what’s in the system prospect wise, the Caps have more upcoming prospects at the forward position than at any other, and they’d love nothing more than seeing another young forward or two step up with a season of noteworthy growth. Washington has made 14 picks in the first three rounds of the last four NHL drafts, and it has used 11 of those picks to draft forwards.
As a result, an even bigger wave of five young Washington forward hopefuls – four of them chosen in the top three rounds of the team’s last four drafts – is expected to break into the pro ranks together this season: Andrew Cristall, Eriks Mateiko, Ludwig Persson, Ilya Protas and Patrick Thomas.
