Another NHL Draft is in the books, and the Capitals are bringing five prospects – four forwards and a defenseman – home from Los Angeles, where the 2025 NHL Draft was conducted this weekend. And in addition to making those five draft selections, the Caps also made a pair of minor trades this week as their offseason roster and lineup renovations are underway just ahead of the opening of the NHL’s annual free agent emporium opening at noon on Tuesday.
Here's a rundown of the five players the Caps brought back from Los Angeles this weekend and more on the transactions they made over the last few days as well.
First Round, No. 27
Washington added another skilled forward to its prospect stable with the 27th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft on Friday night in Los Angeles. The Caps used their first-round selection to draft Lynden Lakovic from Moose Jaw of the WHL. Lakovic is the captain of the Warriors, and he is a 6-foot-4, 190-pound left winger who hails from West Kelowna, BC.
“A 6-foot-4, 190-pound winger with good skill and good sense, skates really well, so that was the attraction to us,” says Caps assistant GM Ross Mahoney. “Like, really good hands for a big kid.
“He can shoot. He’s got a good release and it’s pretty accurate. He’s probably even sneakier at playmaking for a big kid, in tight spaces. And being able to make the plays that he does, the vision is very good.”
A member of the 2023-24 WHL champion Moose Jaw squad, Lakovic elevated his game this past season, notching 27 goals and 31 assists for 58 points in just 49 games.
“There’s so much relief in hearing your name called by a great organization,” says Lakovic. “I had great meetings leading up with Washington, especially at the combine. I thought it went really well, and words can’t describe how happy I am right now.
“If you told me a year ago that Washington would be taking me in the first round of the draft, I probably would have laughed at you a little bit. But it’s been a long journey, and I’m just happy to be here and to go to Washington and see what I can learn, and to take in everything I can.”
The Warriors traded away many of their older players in the midst of the 2024-25 season, and Lakovic was named Moose Jaw’s team captain in the wake of that roster attrition. Moose Jaw missed the playoffs this past season, and the lack of playoff showings may have helped the Caps land Lakovic.
“Yes and no,” says Mahoney, asked if he was surprised that Lakovic was available at No. 27. “I was because I thought he would go higher, but I thought there was a chance that he could end up sliding back to us, and I say that because his junior team – Moose Jaw – had gone to the Memorial Cup the year before. And then they traded away all their older players, like [Brandon] Yager who was drafted; he went to Lethbridge.
“So Lynden was now on a team that wasn’t going to make the playoffs. I think sometimes it hurts you when you don’t play in the playoffs, get an extra round or two or three or four, and the scouts have more of an opportunity to go out and watch you play.
“But in some ways, it was a good experience for him also; they made him the captain of the team after they traded all those veteran players away. So now he had to show some leadership or more leadership; before, they had those older players. It was good and bad, but I think it was good for us. It probably helped him slide to us. He had a little bit of an injury, too, at one point in the season and I think he probably missed about 15 games.”
With a late birthday of Dec. 12, 2006, Lakovic will be AHL-eligible after the upcoming ’25-26 campaign, so he could turn pro as soon as the season after that.
“I kind of model may game after I’d say Tage Thompson,” says Lakovic. “I think that’s a pretty good comparable or Matthew Knies. But those are just some players I model myself after as I grew up watching.
“When I’m at my best, I’m a big, big body that can score goals and set up teammates. I play with a lot of pace and I think I’m good at transporting the puck and utilizing my teammates well. Some things I need to work on are just using my body a little more efficiently. I have a big frame, and you watch Florida and you see what wins hockey games, and if you add that element to a skill set and a frame like mine, I think it’s a recipe for success.”
Lakovic is the nephew of former NHLer Sasha Lakovic and another uncle – Greg Lakovic – spent several seasons playing as a North American pro in four different leagues.
Second Round, No. 37
Early in the second day of the Draft, the Caps selected Swedish center Milton Gastrin from Modo of the Swedish Jr. League. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound pivot hails from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, a city that has produced a dozen NHL players over the years, including Hockey Hall of Famers Peter Forsberg and the Sedin twins, as well as elite players Victor Hedman, Markus Naslund and Anders Hedberg.
In 40 games with Modo Jr. last season, Gastrin piled up 18 goals and 24 assists for 42 points. He also logged eight games for Modo in the Swedish Hockey League, playing against men.
“A high, high character player, and a 200-foot player,” says Mahoney of Gastrin. “Always the captain of the national team, and when we had the combine and in talking to all his teammates, this guy always came up as who is the good guy on the team, and who is your closest teammate, and who shows leadership on that team.
“He also skates well, has good hands, is very smart. It’s not the type of skill where he is going to go down and undress the defenseman, undress the goalie and tuck it under the crossbar, but he makes really, really good passes. His vision is really good. And he is so responsible, not just with the puck, but away from the puck also.
“There are really no holes and no weaknesses in his game. He does everything really well.”
Born in 2007, Gastrin grew up as a Caps fan who received an Ovechkin jersey for Christmas as a youngster.
“When I heard my name called, it was so unbelievable,” says Gastrin. “When you’re a big fan of the Washington Capitals and as a kid your first jersey actually was an Ovechkin jersey, it’s so cool to be a part of this organization now and to be focusing on this organization now.”
Asked to describe himself as a player, Gastrin’s response wasn’t much different from Mahoney’s assessment.
“I know that I am a 200-foot player that works really hard and loves to compete. And I think a big part of my game is my skating and my vision, my ability to work really hard and win a lot of pucks and battle hard.”
It’s clear that the captaincy means something to Gastrin, whose leadership is also a standout quality of his.
“I’m a really loyal guy who always puts the team first and tries to get everybody on your team to feel welcome and try to get everybody on your side,” says Gastrin, “because when you’re going to war and you’re going to win the Stanley Cup, you’ve got to have everybody fighting for you and you’ve got to have everybody by your side. And you’ve got to be a nice person and treat everybody with respect, and that’s something that I’ve always put on a really high standard.”
And as Mahoney intimated, Gastrin really doesn’t have much in the way of weaknesses to his game.
“I’ve been asked a lot about my shot,” says Gastrin. “And when you have the best guy in the world – Alexander Ovechkin – by your side now, I hope he can give me some tips on how to score more and how to be better at shooting. It’s so good to have that opportunity now.”
As far as players he looks up to and models his game after, Gastrin looks to an elite two-way pivot from the Western Conference.
“I would say in the later years, a player like Gabriel Landeskog,” says Gastrin. “He is also a captain, but his way of playing the game, his 200-foot, plays really hard, plays the game with intensity and can both score and be good defensively, and a Swede that’s been really good over the last years.”
Third Round, No. 96
The Caps initially owned the No. 93 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, but by trading back to 96 in a deal with Ottawa, the Caps were able to pick up the Senators’ seventh-round pick in the 2027 Draft, and they were still able to reel in the player they wanted in the third round, German forward Maxim Schafer.
A left winger, the 6-foot 4, 182-pound Schafer started last season playing for Eisbaren Juniors Berlin U20, where he was dominant, amassing a dozen goals and 23 assists for a whopping 35 points in just 15 games. Elevated to the Eisbaren Berlin men’s team in the DEL – the top team in the circuit – in midseason, he totaled a goal and three points in 31 games there, also seeing action in half a dozen playoff contests. Schafer also had a strong showing at the 2025 WJC tournament with two goals and three points in five games.
“Another taller player,” says Mahoney. “He’s probably 6-foot-3 at least, looks even taller because he is a little bit slender. So the challenge for him of course will be to put on a little more weight and get a little more strength.
“He played on the World Junior team, and for a 17-year-old, that’s not easy. And I think he scored a couple goals in that tournament. He played again in the U18 World Championship, scored a couple more goals, and played some games in the elite league, which I think says a lot for a 17-year-old.
“Like I said, I think he needs to work on his strength, but he’s got good size, he’s a hard-working kid, he’s not afraid to take the puck to the net and not afraid to play within the dots, so we were happy to get him, probably around where we thought he’d be available.”
Fifth Round, No. 155
With their fifth-round choice, the Caps opted for another sizable forward, Jackson Crowder a 6-foot-3, 184-pound center from Chicago of the USHL.
A native of Allen, TX, Crowder split last season between Sioux City and Chicago, totaling 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points in 56 games while also accumulating 82 PIM.
“Another obviously tall player,” says Mahoney. “He’s 6-foot-3, and our US scouts – AJ Toews, Jeremy Browning and Rich Alger – really liked his competitiveness. I would say he’s not fun to play against. He’s physical, he finishes his checks, he’s a real competitive player, he skates pretty good for a guy that size. I think he is committed to going to school in another year – to maybe Ohio State – which will be good for him because he needs some time to develop, and to get a lot of ice time. But I think the size and I really like the compete. I would say he has no fear in his game at all.”
Sixth Round, No. 180
Washington initially owned a fourth-round pick but no sixth-round selection in the 2025 Draft, but a Saturday morning swap with Minnesota that netted defenseman Declan Chisholm for the Caps also sent their 2025 fourth-round pick to the Wild while bringing back a sixth-round pick from Minny. With the choice obtained from the Wild, the Caps closed out their 2025 selections with the lone blueliner of the quintet, Aron Dahlqvist.
Dahlqvist had two goals and 10 assists for a dozen points in 37 games with Brynas Jr. in Sweden last season, and he also saw action in 16 games with Brynas IF Gavle of the Swedish Hockey League, playing against men.
“Dahlqvist is another 6-foot-3 and might even be closer to 6-foot-4,” says Mahoney. “He skates really well and is competitive, more of a two-way defenseman. If it all works out, he’ll be more of a penalty-killing defenseman, not on the power play. But a good skater, and he probably came on our radar in November. I don’t think he was in the Hlinka tournament, but he played well in the November tournament.
“Mats Weiderstal and our newest scout – Patrick Cehlin, and big pressure on Patrick too; two picks already in his first year from Sweden – and Matti Lambert, who kind of organizes Europe for us, they were all quite high on him, so we’re happy with him.”
On Thursday, the Caps made a swap with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. Washington sent its second-round selection in the 2026 NHL Draft and its sixth-round choice in 2027 to the Panthers for forward Justin Sourdif, a restricted free agent. Saturday morning, just ahead of the start of the second day of the Draft, Washington announced it has signed Sourdif to a two-year, $1.65 million contract that carries an annual salary cap hit of $825,000.
“He is a guy we’ve liked for a few years,” says Caps GM Chris Patrick of Sourdif. “We’ve tried to get him a couple of times from Florida. We see a guy that’s competitive, smart, can play wing and center, he plays both special teams at the AHL level. And I think in Florida, it was a situation where he was getting boxed out a little bit. And they had a bunch of people calling on him and it got to be a competitive situation.
“So it was kind of like the trade deadline, and we had to decide if we want the guy and are willing to pay up for him or if we want to take a back seat. And for us, it felt like these are the kinds of deals where we’ve had success in the past, with a guy like Rasmus Sandin, where you use a first-[rounder] to get him. And obviously he is more established in the NHL, but we view it as a similar type of deal where we’re getting a young guy who might be in our organization for a lot of years, and we think he can be a really key contributor to our team going forward, in the next wave of younger players.
“As far as his role with us, he gives [coach Spencer Carbery] options; he can try him at the wing and he can try him at center. But I think he’s going to have a good chance here to prove that he is a good NHL player.”
“We like Justin a lot,” reiterates Mahoney. “A terrific skater, has good skill, and works hard. Actually, I just saw him in one of the Hershey games. I thought he was the best player in the game. In his draft year, I think we probably had him as a second-round pick; I think Florida took him in the third [87th overall in 2020 Draft]. But we would have taken him in the second, that’s where we had him graded. Like I said, he can really skate and there’s no fear in his game.”
The Capitals did not have a second- or a third-round choice in the 2020 NHL Draft.
The Caps swung another minor deal on Saturday, sending defenseman Chase Priskie and their fourth-round pick (No. 123 overall) in this year’s Draft to the Minnesota Wild for defenseman Declan Chisholm and the Wild’s sixth-round choice (No. 180 overall) in this year’s draft, the pick they used to select Dahlqvist.
The 25-year-old Chisholm was originally Winnipeg’s fifth-round choice (150th overall) in the 2018 Draft, and he has totaled five goals and 16 assists for 21 points in 99 NHL contests scattered across three seasons with Winnipeg and Minnesota. A native of Bowmanville, Ont., Chisholm is a left-handed shot who is currently a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
“He’s a guy who we can have a little control over because it’s a contract year, because he is an RFA,” says Patrick of Chisholm. “We wanted to address our defensive depth this offseason, and if you go into the free agent market, you don’t have control over the cost. So we thought it was a good chance to do that. And we like the way he is trending as a player, and he’s another guy who is the right age, and I think he’s going to have a real good opportunity here to continue what he was building on in Minnesota.”
