The Washington Capitals have signed center Nic Dowd to a one-year contract worth $650,000. He previously was on a two-year contract worth $640,000 annually from the Los Angeles Kings.

J.T. Brown to #mnwild is done, I'm hearing

Also, Nic Dowd to #capitals

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) July 1, 2018

Nic Dowd Signs with the Washington Capitals

Nic Dowd is a graduate of St. Cloud State. He served as the captain in his senior year while playing in the NCAA and was a Hobey Baker finalist that year. The 6’2, 197 pounder was a seventh-round pick in 2009 by the Los Angeles Kings. He won the Calder Cup with their AHL affiliate, Manchester Monarchs. While in the A, Dowd put up good numbers for the Monarchs and Ontario Reign. He spent his first full season in the NHL in 2016-17, putting up six goals and 16 assists in 70 games with the Kings. Last year, he split his season with Los Angeles and Vancouver thanks to a trade with the Canucks for Jordan Subban on December 8th. In his 40 games there, he only put up three goals.

Acquiring the 28-year-old isn’t a huge signing by the Capitals. There’s not much the Stanley Cup Champions need to do this summer though. They’ve just lost longtime roster player, Jay Beagle to the Canucks in free agency. Dowd will likely be an attempt at replacing his spot in the bottom six.

If Dowd cannot keep up in Washington, he will likely go back to excelling in the AHL, this time with the Hershey Bears. The Alabama native did, in fact, post decent faceoff numbers. While still in Vancouver, he ranked third on the team winning 50.9 of his draws. His Corsi-for percentage could improve but isn’t awful, standing at 46.9 percent with a relative Corsi of -1.5. This may improve with a more sound roster than he had with the Canucks. All in all, this is a low-risk signing for the Capitals but could benefit from his depth playing abilities in their quest to repeat as Cup champions.

Main Photo:

ST. LOUIS, MO – MARCH 23. Vancouver Canucks’ center Nic Dowd (17) during a NHL game between the Vancouver Canucks and the St. Louis Blues on March 23, 2018, at Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO. St. Louis beat Vancouver, 4-1. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images).