Lucas Johansen Final 2023-24 Capitals Report Card

With the injuries to the Washington Capitals blue line, Lucas Johansen made the Washington Capitals out of training camp. He winded up recording one assist in six games but continued to excell with the AHL's best Hershey Bears. And statistically, the Bears are the best in the AHL.

Johansen also competed in six Stanley Cup playoff games and assisted on one of the goals. Johansen's regular season assist was on Nov. 10 in a win over the New Jersey Devils that was a key component of a red hot November. Hunter Shepard also got the win in goal.

With the Bears

So far in the Calder Cup playoffs, Johansen has three assists in six games. In the regular season in Hershey, Johansen had two goals and 12 assists for 12 points in 22 games.

Final grade with the Caps C: We'll have a better grade for Lucas Johansen once the Hershey Bears season concludes. But Johansen proved his reliability during the preseason once Joel Edmundson went down. He once again proved it in the Stanley Cup playoffs as he had to fill in for an injured Nick Jensen.

Johansen was drafted by the Capitals in 2016 and had waited seven years for the moment of making an opening night roster in the NHL, living out a childhood dream. He was taken in the first round and shined at the team's development camp that summer.

Spencer Carbery, in his first season as head coach, even went by the way of tricking the youngster into thinking he just got cut. But he got good news instead. Carbery joked about it during training camp to Sammi Silber of The Hockey News:

""You name it, he's probably been through it, but he just kept pushing and grinding and trying to find a way every day to get better, and I had a front row seat to that. (He) rode a long time on busses and grinded and still kept (his) eye on the moment. It's pretty special.""

- Spencer Carbery