Jerome Miron - USA TODAY Sports
Sheary Goes 1-on-1 About Future With Capitals, Pressure In Final Games
ARLINGTON, V.A. -- Washington Capitals forward Conor Sheary sits in his stall at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, taking in the locker room that he's called home for the last three years and knowing that this could be one of his final practices in the District.
Still, Sheary isn't feeling too much weight on his shoulders with the team playing in its final games of the season. While he is still playing for pride and wants to contribute, a natural instinct for any hockey player, he also knows that these last two games aren't going to change the minds of management much, whether it's in D.C. or across the NHL.
"I obviously want to play, do well and produce and help the team and all that, but I don't think two games is going to change the fate of what might happen this summer," Sheary told The Hockey News. "Maybe at this point, people probably know what they're going to get."
After coming in on a low-risk deal in 2020, Sheary has since established himself as one of the team's most versatile forwards. He can play top-6 or bottom-6 minutes, kill penalties and even play on the man advantage if need be.
However, the season hasn't been the easiest for the 30-year-old.
Through 80 games, Sheary has 15 goals and 22 assists. He had a strong start to the 2022-23 campaign, which, if maintained, could have led to a surefire extension. However, things dropped off after the new year, and he went 21 games without a goal and saw his production take a drop.
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With Sheary's numbers hitting a wall and general manager Brian MacLellan opting for a sell-off at the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, No. 73 felt pressure building as he saw his name popping up on trade boards and heard "Conor Sheary" come up in multiple conversations and podcasts.
Then on March 3, after what he called one of the longest days of his life, he found out he was staying put as the deadline passed. And since then, he hasn't felt any stress or worries about the future.
"Once that passed, I think all that pressure kind of passed me. I was a little nervous about the whole thing, and then once that passed, at this point, it's just going into each game trying to do what I can."
Though Sheary's expressed his desire to remain in D.C., it doesn't appear there have been that many conversations. He also said a month ago that there hadn't been much traction on contract talks and that an extension wouldn't be "probable."
And, with so many prospects coming up and the team likely to do a lot of retooling, Sheary's future seems unlikely. However, that's far from his mind for now, and the focus going forward is to finish strong and keep working.
"Work hard and make a difference in the game, whatever that may be; I think that's just got to be my approach for every game," Sheary said.
