Dowd traded to Golden Knights by Capitals

Nic Dowd was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights by the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

Washington received goalie prospect Jesper Vikman, a second-round pick in the 2029 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft for the 35-year-old forward.

Dowd, who has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in 55 games this season, is in the first year of a two-year, $6 million contract ($3 million average annual value) he signed on April 16, 2025, and can become an unrestricted free agent after next season.

"Really difficult day for the organization, our team, players, staff," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. "Nic Dowd being traded after seven years … difficult decision as an organization and one that I am sure was not taken lightly whatsoever.

"He's meant a lot to this team. He's meant a lot to this community, him and his family. He's done so much for this team and a lot of the work and the things that he had done have gone unnoticed, the way that he plays and the role that he plays. So, he'll be missed and just part of one of the unfortunate parts of professional sports in this business is saying goodbye to good people, and that's part of it."

Selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the seventh round (No. 198) of the 2009 NHL Draft, Dowd has 192 points (88 goals, 104 assists) in 637 regular-season games for the Kings, Vancouver Canucks and Capitals and six points (four goals, two assists) in 40 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

"He's just such a valuable player in so many different ways," Carbery said. "I think the best way to appreciate Nic Dowd is just ask his teammates about him. That's the best way because they will tell you exactly what it means. When it's all said and done, I told him this maybe at the end of last year, the difficult assignments and deployment and the penalty kill and all the hard parts of the game that he takes such pride in, I am sure he's going to do a fantastic job for Vegas."

The Golden Knights (29-19-14) are first in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the Anaheim Ducks. They host the Minnesota Wild on Friday (10 p.m. ET; FDSNWI, FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, SNE).

Vikman, 23, was selected by Vegas in the fifth round (No. 125) of the 2020 NHL Draft. He is 8-7-2 with a 3.41 goals-against average and .866 save percentage in 18 games with Henderson of the American Hockey League this season.

The Capitals, who were the top seed in the Eastern Conference last season, are 31-25-7, four points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card. They next play at the Boston Bruins on Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET: ABC, SN1, TVAS).

"It's terrible. It [stinks] not only as a really good friend, we've gotten really close to his family," Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren said. "He's got such a phenomenal family and it's not easy. You could feel it in the room today. You could feel it in the locker room. When you lose a brother, when you lose someone that has represented the Capitals organization to the fullest the last seven, eight years he's been here, he is Capitals hockey. It's not a good feeling. It [stinks]. We'll sit with it today and then sun comes up tomorrow and we'll reset, refocus and be ready to go for a massive tilt on Saturday."

NHL.com senior writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report