Capitals announce signing of first-round pick Hendrix Lapierre originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Hendrix Lapierre is officially the newest member of the Capitals’ organization after the No. 22 overall pick inked a three-year, $2,775,000 deal, general manager Brian MacLellan announced Tuesday.
"We had [Lapierre] rated very highly," assistant general manager Ross Mahoney told reporters after the draft. "Very high hockey IQ, good character player, extremely unselfish. He always has way more assists than he does goals. Comes to play, gives an honest effort every game, every shift, every period. Those are probably the main things that really stick out for us, especially the hockey sense and the hands and the unselfishness."
Washington traded up two spots to select Lapierre, who was originally projected to go in the top 10 but fell down draft boards due to a checkered injury history.
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The 18-year-old center played for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last season, recording 15 assists and two goals in 19 games before a spinal cord injury cut his campaign short.
The move is the Capitals’ latest amid a busy offseason that saw them hire new head coach Peter Laviolette, sign decorated goalie Henrik Lundqvist and re-sign defensemen Brenden Dillon and Jonas Siegenthaler, among other moves.
