Alex Alexeyev’s time in Washington may soon come to an end.
Alexeyev, 25, has struggled to secure regular ice time with the Capitals, spending much of the last few years as a healthy scratch in DC. He played just eight regular-season games for the Caps in 2024-25, though an injury to Martin Fehervary saw him dress for 10 playoff games. His single-season career high in games played, 39, came during the 2023-24 campaign.
Capitals general manager Chris Patrick spoke on Alexeyev’s status on Saturday ahead of the start of free agency, suggesting that the team may look elsewhere to get Alexeyev more playing time.
“He’s a young guy that didn’t get to play a bunch of games this year. I think it’s important for him to get an opportunity at the NHL level, if that’s with us or if that’s with somebody else,” he said. “So we’re going to be as helpful as we can to him to get him the best opportunity to play in the NHL next year.”
Alexeyev is set to become an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent this offseason, with the Capitals required to tender a qualifying offer by Monday in order to retain his rights. When asked, Patrick would not comment on whether the team planned to qualify Alexeyev.
“I’ll let that come out at the right time,” he said.
If Washington opted not to tender a qualifying offer, Alexeyev would become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
President of hockey operations Brian MacLellan spoke in May about the frustration Alexeyev felt from spending so much time out of the lineup, noting that the team hoped to give him more ice time next season.
“When you don’t play as much as he did this year, which is fortunate for us that we’ve been healthy, but it’s frustrating for him, it hurts his development,” he said. “We’ve done as much as we could without playing games to develop his skills and work on his game, but he’s in a difficult spot, and he came in and I thought he played well at the end of the year. Going forward, I think it would be best if we could get him more games, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
Alexeyev, the Capitals’ first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, saw relatively low minutes even when in the lineup for the Capitals this season, averaging 16:04 of ice time in the regular season and just 10:25 in the playoffs. In 80 career NHL games, he has recorded eight points (1g, 7a) over parts of four seasons.
The Capitals have already acquired a potential replacement for Alexeyev, trading for left defenseman Declan Chisholm on Saturday in a draft-day deal with the Minnesota Wild. Chisholm, 25, played 66 games for the Wild in 2024-25, recording 12 points (2g, 10a) and averaging 17:00 on ice per game.
