After getting a six-year, $35.1MM contract done with pending UFA netminder Logan Thompson on Monday, the Capitals are looking to keep the other half of their goaltending tandem from reaching the open market. Washington is working on an extension with Charlie Lindgren with a cap hit between $3.5MM and $4MM, Kevin Weekes of ESPN said Thursday night.
If past reports indicate, we’ll likely see the official word on a Lindgren extension within the next week. Things moved quickly after Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported last Friday that the Caps were increasing their efforts to reach a deal with Thompson. LeBrun said earlier in the month that the Capitals were wary of disrupting team chemistry by leaving one without an extension for too long, so it’s not surprising that Washington general manager Chris Patrick is quickly looking to get business wrapped up with Lindgren.
Lindgren is now set to earn more in a single season on his next deal than the total value of any of his previous NHL contracts, putting him in the same company as Thompson. Both began their professional careers as undrafted free-agent signings, but it took much longer for Lindgren to establish himself as an everyday NHL option. Now 31, Lindgren was a standout netminder at St. Cloud State University over a three-year run from 2013 to 2016 and landed an entry-level contract with the Canadiens as his junior year ended.
The Minnesota native made his NHL debut for the Habs to close out the year before spending most of the next five seasons as their No. 3 option, logging significant time in the AHL for their affiliates in St. John’s and Laval. His numbers started strong – he put up a .914 SV% in 48 games in his first AHL season and earned an All-Star Game appearance as a rookie. Things quickly went downhill from there, though. Lindgren failed to record a save percentage above .900 in each of the subsequent four campaigns, at least at the minor-league level. He’d gotten call-ups to Montreal every year and had a decent but unimpressive for the time .907 SV% and 3.00 GAA in 24 starts, paired with a 10-12-2 record over parts of five seasons.
Lindgren spent most of the shortened 2020-21 campaign on the Canadiens’ taxi squad, only making three AHL appearances for Laval. But after failing to land an everyday NHL role over the life of a three-year, $2.25MM extension he signed in 2018, he understandably opted not to return to Montreal upon reaching unrestricted free agency that summer. He headed west on his next deal, landing a two-way offer from the Blues on the open market.
St. Louis breathed new life into Lindgren’s game. It was more the organization at large – he spent most of his time on assignment to their AHL affiliate in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he exploded as one of the league’s top netminders with a 2.21 GAA, .925 SV%, three shutouts, and a 24-7-1 record in 34 games. He was also lights out in his few call-ups to the Blues, allowing just five goals on 118 shots (.958 SV%) in four starts and one relief appearance while compiling a spotless 5-0-0 record.
That led to renewed optimism that Lindgren could be an everyday NHL option, and the Capitals gave him a three-year, $3.3MM commitment to prove it in Washington. His first year was unimpressive, posting a .899 SV% and 3.05 GAA in 31 appearances as Darcy Kuemper’s backup as the Caps missed the playoffs for the second time since 2007. However, the 2023-24 season amounted to Lindgren’s big break. He stole the starter’s crease from Kuemper midseason, tying for the league lead with six shutouts and complementing that with a .911 SV% and 2.67 GAA in 48 games. He finished eighth in Vezina Trophy voting and 12th in Hart Trophy voting as Washington snuck into the playoffs. Although they were quickly dispatched in four games by the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers, he started all of them over Kuemper, who had won a Stanley Cup with the Avalanche two years prior.
While Lindgren won’t be in Vezina consideration this season after firmly slipping behind Thompson on the depth chart, he’s still been an above-average tandem option. His .904 SV% and 2.51 GAA through 23 games are the exact numbers you’d expect from the median netminder given the defense in front of him, per MoneyPuck. Last season’s numbers were more than likely a flash in the pan. Still, he’s given the Capitals enough sample to prove he can be a reliable 1B option with Thompson, who’s quietly put up numbers akin to some of the league’s most highly-touted netminders over the last three seasons.
The Caps will have their goalies locked in for the next few seasons at a combined cap hit in the $9MM range, less than what elite established starters are beginning to earn on their own per season. That’s good business from Patrick as he now turns his attention toward the team’s extensive slate of other pending UFAs, including defenseman Jakob Chychrun and reliable depth center Nic Dowd.