{"id":50729,"date":"2019-07-01T18:59:23","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T22:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=50729"},"modified":"2019-07-01T18:59:23","modified_gmt":"2019-07-01T22:59:23","slug":"brendan-leipsic-signs-with-washington-capitals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/07\/01\/brendan-leipsic-signs-with-washington-capitals\/","title":{"rendered":"Brendan Leipsic Signs With Washington Capitals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Capitals<\/a> have signed free agent forward Brendan Leipsic<\/a><\/strong> to a one-year deal worth $700,000. Capitals beat writer Mike Vogel announced the deal mid-afternoon on Monday.<\/p>\n

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Word on Leipsic’s deal with the #Caps<\/a>: 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.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) July 1, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brendan Leipsic Signs With Washington Capitals<\/h1>\n

The 5’10”, 182\u00a0pound 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<\/a> 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<\/a> and Vancouver Canucks<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Brendan Leipsic Signing Provides Depth, Toughness for Capitals<\/h2>\n

This is ultimately a move to acquire some fourth-line depth to the team.\u00a0Leipsic 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\u00a0reasonable 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<\/strong><\/a> who just signed today<\/a> also, and potentially Nic Dowd<\/strong><\/a> as bottom-six options.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>