Hendrix Lapierre determined to force his way back to Capitals: ‘...I’m going to get called back up’

About an hour after the Hershey Bears held their annual Teddy Bear Toss game, Hendrix Lapierre was working out in the team’s weight room at Giant Center.

Lapierre had spent over half of the 2023-24 season with the Washington Capitals and appeared ready to graduate to a full-time NHL player coming into the 2024-25 campaign. After averaging close to half a point per game in DC during 2023-24 (8g, 14a, 22p in 51 games) and earning a regular spot on the Caps’ third line in training camp, Lapierre looked set for his first full NHL season — even Bears head coach Todd Nelson said he “[didn’t] expect to see him” in Hershey this year.

But after a lackluster first half of the season with the Capitals, the AHL’s 2024 Playoff MVP found himself back in his old minor-league stomping grounds. Eight days after being re-assigned, Lapierre was noticeably glum when speaking about his demotion but remained determined and hopeful about his future in the top pro hockey league in the world.

“I didn’t really have a good start to the year, obviously,” Lapierre said. “I feel like I can play a lot better, and I still have a bunch of confidence in myself, and I know what I can do. When things don’t go your way, sometimes it’s frustrating, but yeah, I just feel like I wasn’t playing well.”

Though Lapierre admitted he was frustrated with the situation, he tried to find positives in playing with his longtime teammates once again — including fellow “French guy” Pierrick Dubé, with whom he jumped into a pile of teddy bears with that day, and former roommates Vincent Iorio and Henrik Rybinski.

“Obviously, you don’t want to be down here,” Lapierre said, “but I think this is a great place to play and we have a good group of guys, so at least that’s fun.”

Lapierre’s struggles didn’t mesh well with a Capitals team that out-performed preseason expectations and rocketed to the top of the Eastern Conference early in the year. With bigger goals than just making the playoffs, the club replaced Lapierre with veteran centerman Lars Eller on November 12 after making a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins. A month and a half later, Capitals general manager Chris Patrick sent the waivers-exempt Lapierre back to Hershey as the team got healthy.

“Just with the way the season’s gone and the depth at the center position and with Lappy’s minutes, being in the stands, we felt as an organization it was best for him to get playing in Hershey, in the AHL,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery explained. “Get his game in a good spot, confident again rather than him being here playing limited minutes or, for that matter, right now, being in the stands.”

Lapierre recorded eight assists but scored no goals in 27 games for the Capitals. Skating primarily with Andrew Mangiapane and Jakub Vrana, the 22-year-old pivot struggled at five-on-five, with Washington seeing just 42.9 percent of the expected goals during his minutes. The Capitals were also outscored 11-7 with their former first-round pick on the ice.

Carbery healthy-scratched Lapierre eight times, and when the young centerman got a jersey, he wasn’t out on the ice much, averaging only 9:47 of ice time per game. The Capitals’ bench boss even opted to go with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen instead of dressing Lapierre against the Boston Bruins on December 23.

“I want to play games,” Lapierre said. “That’s what we all want to do. I don’t think there’s a better league for practices because if I feel like I’m missing something in the NHL, then I’ll work on it, and I’ll do it by my own, and the staff helps there. They have Kenny (McCudden) who does the skills drills, so it’s pretty good.”

Lapierre, a gifted skater and puck-handler who can dominate in small ice, said he needs to work on being more physical, playing better in the defensive zone, and improving on faceoffs. “In the NHL, you can’t have a bad shift,” Lapierre said. “So I’m trying to work on that as much as I can.”

He also believes that playing under Carbery and the bench boss’s fast-paced system should make him a more dynamic offensive contributor at the NHL level. “I think that plays into my favor, I like to have the puck.”

The French Canadian forward has played deep into the summer over the last two seasons, helping lead Hershey to back-to-back Calder Cup championships. Lapierre suited up in 80 AHL games in 2022-23 — 60 in the regular season and 20 in the playoffs — with his year ending on June 21. The following season, Lapierre played 96 games between Washington and Hershey, including every game of both teams’ playoff runs (4 games in Washington and 20 with Hershey). Lapierre’s year ended on June 24 when Hershey defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds on home ice in Game 6 of the Calder Cup Finals, and he was awarded the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy.

While his busy schedule has prevented him from working out in the offseason more at Montreal’s Hockey Etcetera, Lapierre does not think his frenetic pace over the last two seasons caused his problems this year.

“I don’t like to use excuses,” Lapierre said. “Obviously, we’ve had two really long years, and we probably worked out for 12 to 14 weeks the last two summers combined. So, obviously, if you really think about it, I’m in the years where I’m supposed to have a lot of growth with my muscles and stuff, and gaining a lot of weight and getting stronger, and it hasn’t been optimal for that.

“But I feel like, at the same time, you’re playing those meaningful games in the playoffs. It doesn’t get better than that. That’s a way of evolving as a player, too, so, in a perfect world, I would go to the finals, and then I’d have a bunch of weeks to train, and then I’d be really ready for camp, but I feel like I had plenty of time. I arrived at camp, I felt pretty good, my results were good, just unfortunately, wasn’t able to put it together.”

Now back with the Bears, Lapierre has played big minutes and notched four assists in his first five appearances with the team, including a two-primary-assist night in his AHL season debut. Lapierre has flipped back and forth with veteran Mike Sgarbossa centering either Hershey’s first or second line. In his latest game, a Bears’ 4-2 victory over the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday, Lapierre centered fellow young star Ivan Miroshnichenko and veteran Spencer Smallman and featured prominently on the power play.

“Lappy’s a really solid player at this level, and I think with him coming down, he just wants to get his confidence back,” Nelson said. “He was the MVP in the playoffs last year, that speaks volumes… Lappy should be a guy that sparks us a bit.”

Nelson used Lapierre in all situations during their 2024 Calder Cup championship run, including on the penalty kill, similar to Connor McMichael in 2023.

“I enjoy it a lot,” Lapierre said of being heavily relied upon. “You want to be on the ice, and sometimes it’s not easy when you’re not out there, but I know why I’m not out there, and that’s why I’m here (in Hershey). I want to work on those kind of things, and they’ll help me get to that next level. It’s obviously fun coming here and playing a lot of minutes and playing meaningful minutes. I just try to make it worth it when I’m on the ice and help the team win.”

While this season hasn’t gone as planned, Lapierre is determined to make the most of his new opportunity and put the pressure on the Capitals to bring him back.

“I try hard. I care about this,” Lapierre said. “I try to get better every day, and I know that eventually, whenever it’s going to be, I’m going to get called back up. Hopefully, I’ll stay there, and I’ll make it worth it.”