Charlie Lindgren 2023 Report Card

Next up on our Washington Capitals end of season player report card series we look at Charlie Lindgren who just finished his first season as the new backup goalie.

We all know the Caps needed not one but two goalies last summer as they parted ways with both Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek. After going for the home run in Darcy Kuemper they signed Lindgren who only played in five games the previous season but won all five of those said games with the St. Louis Blues.

This season he played in 31 games and went 13-11-3 with a 3.05 goals against average and a .899 save percentage. Not a career year but not career worsts either.

When Kuemper went down in early December, Lindgren stepped up and was a key factor in the teams hot month that thrust them back into the playoff mix.

From Dec. 5 to Dec. 13, he won five in a row. After they fell to the Dallas Stars on home ice, he finished the month with a four game winning streak. That was his best stretch and I believe he won NHL player or goaltender of the moth honors.

Lindgren just finished the first year of a three year contract so he’ll be around the next two seasons. Lindgren talked to Sammi Silber of The Hockey News about how he absolutely wanted to be here:

“What’s behind [my enthusiasm] is really just the journey that I’ve travelled to get here. There’s been a lot of ups and downs… this is absolutely where I want to be. I couldn’t be happier to be a Washington Capital. You’re able to kind of take a step back for a moment and just kind of reassess where you’re at. When I look at the games I’ve played, I’m pretty happy with the way it’s gone.”

Grade B: Lindgren gets a B for his good play in December. Sadly he just missed an A as he struggled like the rest of the team down the stretch. But he should have a good year next year.