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Dec 3, 2025; San Jose, California, USA; Washington Capitals center Nic Dowd (26) waits for play to resume during a game against the San Jose Sharks in the second period at SAP Center in San Jose. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Capitals Locker Room Sour on Nic Dowd Trade

Originally posted on Breakaway on SI | By Seth Dowdle | Last updated Mar 5, 2026 2:22 PM ET

The Washington Capitals are just four points out of a playoff spot. On paper, the season is not over and a championship, though distant and hard to achieve, is still on the table. Despite that fact, the Capitals front office decided to sell at the trade deadline anyway, as it sent away veteran center Nic Dowd to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for goalie Jesper Vikman, a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2029 NHL Draft.

According to Tom Gulitti, the mood in the Capitals’ locker room after the trade was sour. Dowd, who started his career with the Los Angeles Kings but had been with Washington for the last eight seasons, was a beloved presence and wonderful teammate by all accounts. That made his departure all the sadder for the Capitals, who now enter the rest of the season in a weird spot.

“It’s terrible,” Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren said after the trade. “It sucks. ... You could feel it in the room today. You could feel it in the locker room. When you lose a brother, when you lose someone that has represented the Capitals organization to the fullest the last seven, eight years he’s been here, he is Capitals hockey. It’s not a good feeling. It sucks. We’ll sit with it today and then the sun comes up tomorrow and we’ll rest, refocus and be ready to go for a massive tilt on Saturday.”

Definitely a down mood in the Capitals locker room today after they learned that Nic Dowd was being traded. Good friend Charlie Lindgren summed it up. pic.twitter.com/Y5Db91tDxp
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) March 5, 2026

The Capitals will have to face that massive tilt — a crucial clash against the Boston Bruins — without Dowd. How they’ll manage to do that in the midst of all the emotion of his departure is a question that’ll soon be answered.

Golden Knights Add Depth Down the Middle

The Golden Knights’ interest in Dowd is obvious when one looks at his production over the past couple seasons. In need of a center in lieu of Mark Stone’s latest injury, Dowd provides Vegas with decent scoring production. Through 55 games this season, he’s scored five goals and recorded 12 assists. Those aren’t otherworldly numbers, but it’s plenty good enough for a team that just needs some depth at the center position.

Vegas will also be obtaining a fantastic teammate. It’s extremely evident that Dowd’s Washington teammates adore him and his family, which makes saying goodbye all the more difficult. For Vegas, this is wonderful news and only adds to the reasons why the team would want to acquire him.

The rest of the Capitals’ season is sure to be an interesting one. With Alex Ovechkin’s looming decision regarding his potential retirement hanging like a heavy, dark cloud, the Capitals appear to be letting their foot off the gas as the campaign wanes.

How will that affect Ovechkin, who’s the greatest goal scorer of all time, and what he wants to do with his future? And how will that affect how the Capitals decide to move forward with their roster construction for the 2026-27 season? All these questions will be answered in time. All that’s certain right now is that the Capitals are losing a fantastic teammate and player in Dowd, and that’s certain to make the rest of the season interesting in the U.S. capital.

This article first appeared on Breakaway on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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