Capitals ink Trevor van Riemsdyk to three year extension

On Saturday morning the Washington Capitals announced that they have re upped defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk to a three year extension where he’ll make $3 million a season.

The 31 year old has recorded a career high 19 points with seven goals and 12 assists in 66 games this season. The six foot three, 191 pound defenseman established a career high in points for the second consecutive season surpassing his 17 points in 72 games played in 2021-22 with one goal and 16 assists.

TvR leads the Capitals and ranks seventh in the NHL in blocked shots with 146 and ranks first on the team in plus minus with a plus 12 as well as shorthanded ice time per game at 2:37.

This season, TvR is one of two Capitals skaters to appear in all 66 of the team’s games and is averaging 19 minutes of ice time per game which marks the second highest rate of his career. In 2015-16 he averaged 19:59 minutes of ice time.

The Middletown, New Jersey naive has recorded 108 points with 24 goals and 84 assists in 522 career games with Washington, the Carolina Hurricanes, and Chicago Blackhawks. TvR has appeared in 32 career Stanley Cup playoff games and won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2015.

This along with re signing Nick Jensen was the right move by general manger Brian MacLellan. While it was hard to say goodbye to Dmitry Orlov and Erik Gustafsson, new guy Rasmus Sandin has been thriving since joining his new team, even getting top pairing minutes alongside TvR.

On the forward front re signing Dylan Strome, Sonny Milano and Nicolas Aube Kubel was also the right move. It helps give the Caps a balance of veterans and youth as they ultimately hope to get younger to remain competitive in a game that’s changing each year.

The Capitals take on the New York Islanders tonight with 16 games left to play in the regular season. While there’s no guarantees this year, let’s hope this re signing helps the team out next year.