The Washington Capitals announced they have returned forwards Grant Cruikshank, Justin Nachbaur, Luke Toporowski, and Dalton Smith, defensemen Nick Leivermann and Jon McDonald and goaltender Seth Eisele to their AHL affiliate Hershey Bears. All seven players are on AHL contracts for the 2025-26 season. Best Opening Night Matchup? Smith brings the most AHL experience out of the bunch, he has 79 points in 520 career AHL games. He will bring a veteran presence to a Bears team that lost lots of experience this off-season. McDonald and Cruikshank both played 31 games for Hershey last season while Leivermann appeared in 37. All three will likely see more opportunity this season. Nachbaur appeared in four games for the Bears last season and had 28 points and 173 penalty minutes in 48 games for the Bears' ECHL affiliate South Carolina Stingrays. Toporowski has been a full-time AHL player for the past three seasons, recording 28 points in 53 games for the Iowa Wild last season. Eisele had a 19-10-1 record and .914 SP in the ECHL last season, helping the Stingrays lead the league in points during the regular season. Clay Stevenson is the likely candidate to replace the departed Hunter Shepard as Hershey's starter leaving Eisele to compete with Mitch Gibson, Garin Bjorklund, and Antoine Keller for AHL games. After capturing back-to-back Calder Cups in 2023 and 2024 the Bears were swept in three games in the Division Finals by the Charlotte Checkers last season. Check out our AHL to KHL signing tracker [https://thehockeynews.com/ahl/latest-news/all-ahl-players-who-have-signed-in-the-khl-this-off-season] and AHL Free Agency signing tracker [https://thehockeynews.com/ahl/latest-news/ahl-free-agency-2025-tracker-and-analysis].
