The Washington Capitals have signed free agent forward Brendan Leipsic to a one-year deal worth $700,000. Capitals beat writer Mike Vogel announced the deal mid-afternoon on Monday.
Word on Leipsic’s deal with the #Caps: it’s a one-way, one-year deal for $700K. Leipsic and Hathaway certainly give the team’s fourth line a fresh new look, flanking Nic Dowd.
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) July 1, 2019
Brendan Leipsic Signs With Washington Capitals
The 5’10”, 182 pound Leipsic has scored 48 points over 126 games in three years in the NHL. He was originally a third round pick for the Nashville Predators in the 2012 NHL Draft. Last year he scored a career-high seven goals, 23 points in 62 games playing for both the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks. His 18 points with Los Angeles was the best he’d done with any single team since his debut in 2015-16. His possession metrics included a 45.8 percent Corsi rating and a Relative Corsi of -2.8 percent.
The former Kings left wing has scored on just 6.6 percent of his shots and averaged 13:30 of ice time per game. Overall he is a liability with the puck, but still possesses enough punch to contribute without being a major scoring option.
Brendan Leipsic Signing Provides Depth, Toughness for Capitals
This is ultimately a move to acquire some fourth-line depth to the team. Leipsic will help check the other team’s power play after delivering 56 hits and winning faceoffs 53.8 percent of the time. He brings a certain amount of grit to a squad that the team didn’t always possess on the back-end of their roster. The Washington Capitals needed a reasonable fourth liner to help on the penalty kill. The Capitals have just over $4 million in cap space after the Leipsic signing. Leipsic projects to slot next to fellow signee Garnet Hathaway who just signed today also, and potentially Nic Dowd as bottom-six options.
