Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey — Imagn Images
ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals were busy ahead of the 5 p.m. restricted free agency deadline on Monday, signing defenseman Declan Chisholm to a two-year, $3.2 million deal, issuing a qualifying offer to Hendrix Lapierre and electing not to qualify three others.
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Defensemen Alexander Alexeyev and forward Pierrick Dubé did not receive qualifying offers and will become unrestricted free agents on Tuesday at 12 p.m. Mitchell Gibson didn’t get a qualifying offer either but signed an AHL deal with the Hershey Bears to remain involved in the organization.
Chisholm was brought in at the 2025 NHL Draft to bolster the depth on the blue line after struggling to fill Martin Fehervary’s void. The 25-year-old appeared in 66 games for the Minnesota Wild last season and is a solid two-way defenseman and puck mover. His deal carrier an AAV of $1.6 million.
Lapierre is coming off an up-and-down year with the Capitals, where he made the team out of training camp but was unable to hold down the fort as the third-line center, leading to a demotion to the AHL’s Hershey Bears. There, he put up a point-per-game campaign while bouncing back from a rough start to the year.
General manager Chris Patrick said that a bridge deal is the most likely scenario for the 23-year-old as he continues to try to prove he can be a consistent impact player at the highest level.
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Alexeyev, a first-round pick in 2018, did not get qualified after struggling to establish himself as a regular within the organization. He spent all but eight games of the regular season as a healthy scratch, and though he dressed for all 10 playoff games in place of Fehervary, he couldn’t really stand out.
It was important for Washington to get Alexeyev the opportunity to try and get more ice time elsewhere, which is why it decided a change of scenery is best.
Dubé just wrapped up his entry-level contract and has continued to show promise in the organization. He finished fourth on the AHL’s Hershey Bears this past season and earned an NHL call-up to boot, but he just wasn’t able to separate himself from the competition.