The Hendrix Lapierre Experience

Penguins acquire 24-year-old forward from Capitals

Kyle Dubas has taken another swing at a young, under-the-radar player who has not had the expected impact with his original team.

He acquired forward Hendrix Lapierre from Washington for a third-round draft choice in 2027 and a fifth-rounder in 2028. The latter originally belonged to San Jose.

Lapierre, 24 and a pending restricted free agent, was the Capitals’ first-round draft choice in 2020.

It is not immediately clear where the Penguins project him in their lineup, although such decisions probably won’t be made – or, at least, be meaningful – until after the makeup of the roster becomes more clear later this summer.

He is 6-foot, 195 pounds and put up four goals and 12 assists in 74 games with the Capitals in 2025-26.

Lapierre averaged just eight minutes, 50 seconds of ice time per game last season, placing him 28th of the 29 skaters who appeared for the Capitals.

He has 13 goals and 34 assists in 158 career games in Washington and 27 goals and 52 assists in 113 games with the Capitals’ American Hockey League affiliate in Hershey. He won two Calder Cups with the Bears.

Lapierre has played center and left wing and, his modest NHL stats aside, is considered a good playmaker who is responsible defensively.