Capitals Return Lapierre, Miroshnichenko, Iorio & More To Hershey For Calder Cup Title Defense

ARLINGTON, V.A. — With the Washington Capitals' season coming to a close at the hands of the New York Rangers on Sunday, the organization gave its AHL affiliate a much-needed boost on Monday, reassigning almost all call-ups to the Hershey Bears to try and defend their Calder Cup title.

Washington reassigned forwards Hendrix Lapierre and Ivan Miroshnichenko, along with defensemen Hardy Häman Aktell, Vincent Iorio, Lucas Johansen and Dylan McIlrath and goaltender Mitchell Gibson, to the Bears.

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Michael Sgarbossa, who was recalled earlier in the year when Evgeny Kuznetsov entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, was not placed on waivers to be reassigned to Hershey before the trade deadline, so he is ineligible to play in the AHL postseason.

The Calder Cup Playoffs kick off for Hershey on May 1 in a best-of-three series against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Philadelphia Flyers' AHL affiliate.

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Lapierre, who started the year in the AHL and had 17 points in 21 games with Hershey this year, has all but graduated to the NHL level with the Capitals needing to fill voids up front following Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom's departures.

In the final 26 games of the season following his final call-up ahead of the trade deadline, Lapierre ranked fourth among rookies in scoring with six goals and nine assists for 15 points in 26 games. In 51 NHL games this season, he had 22 points, and in four playoff games against New York, he put up one goal and one assist.

It'll be a huge boost for the Bears, who finished the year as the top team in the AHL despite losing multiple key contributors to call-ups.