Capitals re-sign Bears standout Clay Stevenson
The Washington Capitals announced Tuesday morning that they re-signed goaltender Clay Stevenson who in 13 games this season with the reigning Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears has a 1.70 goals against average and a .934 save percentage along with four shutouts.
The contract is worth three years for $2.325 million. The first year of that deal is two way ($750,000/$200,000) while the second and third years will be one way ($775,000).
The 24 year old is 9-4-0 this season ranking first in the AHL in goals against average and shutouts while second in save percentage and tied for third in wins.
Listed as six foot four and 185 pounds, Stevenson appears in 36 games for the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL. He went 19-12-3 with a 2.54 goals against average and .926 save percentage in five Kelly Cup Playoff games.
Last season he also appeared in three games with Hershey where he went 3-0-0 with a 1.96 goals against average and a .924 save percentage. The Drayton Valley, Alberta native made his AHL debut on Dec. 10 of last year against the Cleveland Monsters where he stopped 25 out of 27 shots.
In 16 career AHL games with the Bears, Stevenson is 12-4-0 with a 1.75 goals against average, a .932 save percentage and four shutouts. Stevenson was signed to a two year entry level deal on March 28, 2022 following his sophomore season with Dartmouth College.
That followed a season where Stevenson earned six of Dartmouth’s last seven wins, leading the Big Green in wins, save percentage with .922, goals against average with 2.70 and shutouts with two.
The goaltender posted a save percentage of .900 in all 23 games he played and his .922 save percentage was tied for second in the ECAC. Stevenson won the Phelan Award as Dartmouth’s MVP and was named to the 2021-22 All Ivy First Team, the ECAC All Rookie Team and the ECAC Third All Star Team.
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Stevenson shares the net in Hershey with Calder Cup MVP Hunter Shepard after the departure of Zach Fucale who went overseas. If something were to happen to one of the goalies with the big club due to injury it’s good to know there’s two reliable net minders in Hershey.