Capitals re-sign Matt Irwin

After the Washington Capitals found their two goalies, they then pivoted to the defense to make a few decisions as Justin Schultz moved on to the Seattle Kraken. One of those decisions was bringing back Matt Irwin.

This was an important move as there was still some holes on defense. They would’ve re-signed Michal Kempny by now if they wanted to have him back but it looks like they chose Irwin.

They signed the 34 year old blue liner to a one year, two way deal. He’ll make $750K in the NHL and $450K in the AHL if he suits up for the Hershey Bears. PuckPedia, rather than the Caps, reported this news.

Irwin shoots on the left side. Another lefty that the Caps brought back was Lucas Johansen. That means those two could compete for the final spot on the third pairing in training camp.

Irwin didn’t play much last season as he was the team’s seventh defenseman. He did play in 17 games. In a small sample size where he played a total of 203 minutes, the Caps saw 56.7 percent of the shot attempts at five on five, a 59.3 percent of the expected goals, 54.8 percent of the scoring chances, and 55.7 percent of the high danger chances when Irwin was on the ice.

Irwin had four points with a goal and three assists last season.

If I was GMBM I honestly would’ve done the same thing in choosing Irwin over Kempny. Nothing against Kempny, great guy, but he seemed to struggle out of training camp last season and never really found his footing as he spent a bulk of the season in the AHL and a little bit of time in the NHL.

This completion between him and Lucas Johansen will be interesting. Johansen was the team’s first round draft pick in 2016. Irwin joined the Caps for the first time last season.