Capitals Ramping Up Efforts To Extend Logan Thompson

The Capitals have “engaged more meaningfully” in extension talks with pending unrestricted free agent goaltender Logan Thompson’s camp recently, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports Friday.

Washington is aiming to have the soon-to-be 28-year-old signed, and off the market by the time the 4 Nations Face-Off rolls around in a few weeks, LeBrun wrote. Recent extensions for similarly-aged breakout netminders like the Avalanche’s Mackenzie Blackwood and the Kraken’s Joey Daccord mean the Caps are likely looking at a four-to-five-year commitment with an average annual value between $5MM and $5.5MM to retain his services – potentially even $6MM, Jamie McLennan of TSN told LeBrun.

That would be an astronomical range over Thompson’s current $767K cap hit, which he locked in when he signed a three-year, $2.3MM extension with the Golden Knights midway through his rookie 2021-22 campaign. The Caps needed a goalie last summer after they dealt Darcy Kuemper to the Kings in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Thompson desired more playing time in his contract year after posting a .908 SV% in a career-high 42 starts and four relief appearances in Vegas last year. Washington moved to acquire Thompson on the second day of the 2024 draft, sending a pair of third-round picks Vegas’ way to provide an economical tandem partner for last year’s breakout option, Charlie Lindgren.

While Lindgren and Thompson rotated starts through the beginning of the season, Thompson has emerged as the bona fide 1A option for the upstart Caps. His sparkling 22-2-3 record in 26 games is backed up by a .925 SV%, which ranks third in the league among netminders with double-digit starts. Those 22 wins are also third in the league and are the most among goalies with under 30 starts, ahead of former teammate Adin Hill, who has 18 wins through 29 starts for the Knights.

Advanced statistics are also quite kind to Thompson, positioning him as the clear-cut runner-up to the Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck for the Vezina Trophy. His 26.8 goals saved above expected are just 0.4 short of Hellebuyck in nine fewer games, per MoneyPuck, good for a league-leading 1.00 GSAx/60.

Expecting Thompson to maintain this level of play over the life of an extension is unreasonable. However, unlike a contract comparable in Blackwood, he’s established a high floor for his play at the NHL level. His SV% never dipped below .908 during his time in Vegas, and his GSAx has never finished in the…