Players

Caps Acquire Gilbert, Hope to Boost Hershey Defense

via nhl.com

The Washington Capitals have they acquired defenseman Tom Gilbert from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a conditional 5th round pick in the 2017 NHL draft. Those conditions are as follows: The Kings maintain 20% of his cap hit, the Caps get past round 2, and Gilbert plays in at least half of the Caps playoff games. Gilbert has a $0.175 million cap hit according to Cap Friendly.

The Capitals also immediately assigned Gilbert to Hershey. Hershey has had major issues since Madison Bowey was injured in late December. Since then, Hershey is 7-7-3 and has allowEd more than four goals a game. Hershey signed several players to PTOs. At one point coach Troy Mann even said, “We’ve got pretty much an ECHL defense right now, in my opinion.”  This move plugs a huge hole. Gilbert has over 600 games of NHL experience and is expected to be a top four defenseman for Hershey and will likely play in all situations. He will join the team in Providence on Friday.

Here is how the Hershey defense now stands:

Throw in a healthy Bowey and maybe a Jonas Sigenthaler in late March, the Hershey team will once again be a threat for a deep postseason run.

Brandon Alter

Brandon Alter covers all three teams in the Washington Capitals Organization. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in May of 2021.

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