The Washington Capitals brought in a host of new players this offseason, and several of them have made plans to stick around. Jakob Chychrun and Logan Thompson have both signed extensions with the Capitals in the latter half of the season, inking deals for eight and six more years, respectively.
After trades sent them to Washington over the offseason, Thompson and Chychrun each needed less than a full season to know they wanted to stay with the team, signing within a matter of months after making their Capitals debuts. The Caps’ on-ice success doesn’t hurt — Washington leads the Eastern Conference with a record of 47-16-9 — and both players will see significant raises — Chychrun to $9 million per year and Thompson to $5.85 million — but head coach Spencer Carbery noted that the team’s overall environment also makes players want to stay.
“I think [the signings] speaks a lot to what we’re trying to do here culturally, the organization, the community, the fan base, the arena,” Carbery said Saturday. “There’s so many things that go into play when players are evaluating their families living here, signing long-term extensions. Jakob Chychrun, Logan Thompson, those are big decisions in their lives.”
Carbery, a favorite to win the Jack Adams Award this season, highlighted creating that tight-knit room as a major priority for him and the rest of the coaching staff..
“We want to have an environment in here where guys enjoy coming to the rink and enjoy being around one another and enjoy being coached and are highly motivated and pushed, but also feel like they’re appreciated,” he said. “I feel like if you create that, that’s my job as a coach to create that environment, hopefully guys will want to stay here and free agents will want to come play here. And that’s all I can do.”
Carbery’s players share the same high opinion of the team’s environment. Earlier in the season, Logan Thompson named the team’s culture as a factor in his recent success, which has seen him put up one of the best goaltending performances in the league.
“It’s just credit to management and the coaching staff and, also the leaders that we have in this dressing room,” Thompson said. “They did a tremendous job just accepting us and welcoming us and just I think that’s why we thrived. We’re all really happy and we just love playing for each other.”
The pattern of players coming to DC later in their careers before signing big extensions stretches back beyond the 2024-25 season. Dylan Strome wasn’t thinking much about team culture when he signed a one-year deal with the Caps in 2023 — he focused on getting the best contract available after the Chicago Blackhawks declined to give him a qualifying offer — but within a few months of joining the team, he knew he wanted to put down roots in Washington. He’s since signed an extension through 2028, become Alex Ovechkin’s regular center, and currently leads the team with 68 points (23g, 45a) this season, having set a new career high every year he’s been in DC.
“Honestly I didn’t know anything about (the Capitals’ environment when I first signed),” Strome said earlier this season. “It was just pretty much the team that offered the most. I was just looking for an opportunity and it was only on a one-year deal. So just for sure (it factored into) my decision to stay here. I wanted to get that done as quick as possible and fortunate enough to do that.”
Similarly, Charlie Lindgren had spent much of his career in the AHL before signing as a free agent. A season after his outstanding performance in 2023-24 led the Capitals to the playoffs, he signed a three-year extension earlier this month. Asked what has allowed players to find a second lease on their careers in Washington, he didn’t hesitate.
“I know for sure what it is,” he said last month. “The people here are unbelievable, from our security, Ralph Rice, to our medical team with Jason Serbus, strength team, and then we’ve got an unbelievable coaching staff. It all comes down to the people.
“In this room, you can be totally different and still fit in. Where I feel like in a lot of different hockey locker rooms, it’s pretty much the same hockey guys. It’s just your typical hockey guys. We’re here, we’ve got some different characters, but we all love each other and everyone fits in and gets along. I think when you’re having fun off the ice and you’ve got a good group, it’s going to make things on the ice easier.”
The Capitals’ zany affection for each other is obvious, whether they’re calling out a teammate’s preference for candles over light bulbs at night in interviews, attempting pranks during media appearances, or creating choreographed pregame rituals elaborate enough to resemble gibberish from the outside. But beyond players’ individual oddities, the team’s acceptance of each other bolsters their relationships on the ice.
Lindgren pointed to the team’s response to his own goal in November as an example of that unconditional support. Rather than berating their goalie for putting the puck in his own net, the Caps gave him the player-of-the-game chain postgame — Alex Ovechkin even asked Lindgren to give him the stick he’d scored with. A gaffe Lindgren called ‘the worst mistake I’ve probably ever made’ on the ice instead became a moment he could joke about — something he credits to the team’s unity.
“I go back to the own goal in Tampa, just seeing the guys rally around,” he said. “Obviously that was really cool. I mean, we’ve had multiple moments where you can see, where we maybe hit a speed bump or we hit a wall during a game and we find a way to just grind it out and get it done. That’s all about a team coming together and believing in each other. But off the ice, I think the way we all get along and we all hang out, that speaks volumes. I mean, there’s no real cliques and so it makes for a beautiful thing when everyone feels a part of the team.”
With Ovechkin in the twilight years of his career, the Capitals have looked to retool on the fly, bringing seven new players to the team just during the 2024 offseason. And though trades and free-agent deals have brought many of the fresh faces to DC, it’s their experience with the team that’s kept them coming back.
“Thankfully, we have a great organization, unbelievable to live in the D.C. area,” Carbery said. “You guys obviously know all about our fan base and what it’s like to rock the red and play in Capital One Arena. So to me it’s a no-brainer.”
