The Capitals announced they’ve recalled goaltender Clay Stevenson from AHL Hershey. Fellow netminder Hunter Shepard is headed back to the minors in a corresponding move.
The transaction amounts to a temporary backup swap for Washington over the season’s final two games while Logan Thompson nears a return from his upper-body injury. Shepard was recalled as Charlie Lindgren’s temporary No. 2 option and has been rostered for the Caps’ last five games. He only made one start, a fateful 7-0 loss against the Blue Jackets in which he stopped 19 of 26 shots for a subpar .731 SV%.
That was the 29-year-old Shepard’s fifth career NHL start. The other four came last season with Washington, posting a 2-1-1 record with a .894 SV% and 3.19 GAA. The spot start against Columbus was emblematic of a disappointing season for the Minnesota native in the minors. Coming off back-to-back Calder Cup championships with Hershey and AHL Best Goaltender honors in 2023-24, he’s floundered with a .891 SV% and 2.81 GAA in 37 appearances for the Bears. That’s still good enough for a 22-11-3 record behind one of the league’s strongest skater corps, but a disappointing result nonetheless on an individual level.
Now, the 26-year-old Stevenson gets a chance to start one of Washington’s final two games to allow Lindgren some rest in case he’s needed for Game 1 of their first-round series against either the Canadiens or Blue Jackets. While he was rostered briefly last season, he didn’t get into a game, so a start would mean his NHL debut. Like Shepard, his 2024-25 campaign with Hershey has been marred by individual regression. He’s posted a .888 SV% in 33 games after logging a .922 mark in his first full AHL season last year, adding a 2.94 GAA and two shutouts with an 18-8-5 record.
Shepard is a pending unrestricted free agent, although Stevenson is under contract for another two years after signing a three-year, $2.33MM extension midway through the 2023-24 campaign. He earns a one-way salary of $775K next year and in 2026-27, indicating the Caps had high hopes for him to assume an NHL roster spot. This year’s numbers plus extensions for Lindgren and Thompson have thrown a wrench into that plan, though, so he’ll instead serve as an expensive AHL option for the remainder of his deal.