Pittsburgh Penguins Acquire Hendrix Lapierre

First reported by Elliotte Friedman, the Pittsburgh Penguins are acquiring Hendrix Lapierre from the Washington Capitals. A few moments later, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reported that the Capitals would be receiving a 2027 third-round pick and San Jose’s 2028 fifth-round pick.

After adding Jordan Kyrou from the St. Louis Blues and Alex Tuch from the Buffalo Sabres over the last 72 hours, the Capitals quickly had a saturated forward group. They were able to include Connor McMichael in the trade for Kyrou, and now Lapierre has become an additional consequence.

Despite being a first-round pick by Washington back in the 2020 NHL Draft, it’s become clear throughout the past two years that Lapierre wouldn’t find his way into the top six anytime soon. He had some decent scoring outbursts with the AHL’s Hershey Bears since transitioning to the professional ranks, but that hasn’t quite translated to the NHL.

Still, that’s not to say Lapierre won’t bring any value to Pittsburgh. This past season, he scored four goals and 16 points in 74 games with a net-zero rating, averaging 8:50 of ice time per game. Additionally, he’s only two years removed from scoring eight goals and 22 points in 51 games for the Capitals when he was on the team’s third line.

He isn’t as physical as many bottom-six forwards, but he’s a strong possession player and has respectable defensive metrics. Judging by his output, Lapierre is a jack-of-all-trades type of bottom-six center, and at 24 years old, the Penguins can help him turn into the player they need him to be. Assuming that Kevin Hayes and Noel Acciari depart for greener pastures next week, Lapierre has likely been brought aboard to replace one of them. He will become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in a few days.