It may be easy to forget with all the newer additions that Washington Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan and his managerial staff have added like Jakob Chychrun, Matt Roy, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Andrew Mangiapane among others; but the team also re-signed one of their own on what was a busy first day of NHL free agency. The Capitals announced they re-signed forward Connor McMichael to a two-year deal worth $4.2 million. McMichael was one of the restricted free agents that they needed to take care of, and now he is in the mix for the next couple of seasons.
McMichael’s Capitals Career So Far
McMichael was drafted by the Capitals in the first round (25th overall) of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. He first debuted in D.C. for one game in the 2020-21 season and went pointless. He mainly was in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Hershey Bears, where he tallied 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points in 33 games. The 2021-22 campaign was when he gathered his first points for Washington. In 68 regular-season contests, McMichael accumulated nine goals and nine assists for 18 points.
2022-23 only saw McMichael suit up in six contests for the Capitals and went pointless. He mainly played with the Bears and accrued 39 points in 57 games (16 goals and 23 assists). He most recently took a step up in production this past season with Washington, notching 18 goals and 15 assists for 33 points in 80 games.
On top of that, McMichael has gained some playoff experience as well. He went on an extensive postseason run in Hershey in 2023, where he amassed 10 points in 20 games (six goals and four assists). He also played in playoff games for the Capitals. So far in his young career, he has been a part of two playoff runs in D.C. The first was in the 2022 Playoffs, where he got an assist in four games. The other postseason run was in 2024 when he got a goal in four games.
Potential for More
These next two seasons will be crucial for McMichael. He has mainly gone back and forth between Hershey and D.C. during his career. Now, he is going to try and make a name for himself in these next two campaigns so that the next time he and MacLellan meet for contract talks, the Capitals will want to lock him up long-term. McMichael is still only 23 years old and is just getting started in the league (he will still be an RFA after this new deal is up). He may not even hit his prime for another few seasons. However, if MacLellan, head coach Spencer Carbery, and the rest of the team see enough growth out of him, he will get that next contract with potentially more seasons on it.
Related: The Best Free Agent Signings in NHL History
How good McMichael becomes for Washington is still to be determined. If everything goes perfectly and he can find ways to get at least some of the production he had while he was in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the London Knights, that will go a long way for the offense. During his campaigns in London (and prior to that for a brief time with the Hamilton Bulldogs), he produced the following numbers:
- 2017-18 (Bulldogs): five goals and five assists for 10 points in 32 games
- 2017-18 (Knights): three goals and three assists for six points in 28 games
- 2018-19 (Knights): 36 goals and 36 assists for 72 points in 67 games
- 2019-20 (Knights): 47 goals and 55 assists for 102 points in 52 games
Also, McMichael was a part of two postseason runs with the Knights in 2017-18 and 2018-19. For 2017-18, he went pointless in four playoff games. As for 2018-19, McMichael potted two goals and provided three assists for a total of five points in 11 games.
If McMichael can become some form of how he was in London, that will be awesome news for Washington. He certainly will not have to carry the Capitals’ offense on his own though, even once superstar captain Alex Ovechkin hangs up the skates. Other members of the team who are signed long-term include Tom Wilson, Dubois, Dylan Strome, Aliaksei Protas, Roy, and Rasmus Sandin. The Capitals have a promising group after the Ovechkin era is over, and McMichael has a couple of seasons to make sure he is part of the next era in the long run.
