The Capitals bolstered their goaltending depth with Vikman, a 23-year-old Swedish netminder.
The Washington Capitals added to their goaltending depth as they traded Nic Dowd to the Vegas Golden Knights, bringing in Swedish netminder Jesper Vikman as part of the return.
Vikman has been assigned to the AHL's Hershey Bears, where he'll begin his tenure within the Capitals organization. He is currently recovering from injury and is week-to-week.
The 23-year-old was taken in the fifth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, as Vegas elected to trade up to select him. He rose to prominence overseas, impressing with AIK's junior team and getting five games in the HockeyAllSvenSkan, the second-highest tier of pro hockey in Sweden. He then made his way to North America in 2022 and spent one year in juniors with the WHL's Vancouver Giants before making the pro jump.
Since then, Vikman has split time between the AHL and ECHL with the Henderson Silver Knights and Savannah Ghost Pirates and Tahoe Knight Monsters.
Through 18 games with the Silver Knights this season, Vikman is 8-7-4 with a .866 save percentage and 3.41 GAA.
The 6-foot-4, 205-pound goaltender uses his size to his advantage and has good agility and lateral movement. He's calm and collected in the crease and also has plenty of upside.
With Mitch Gibson currently hurting in Hershey, it gives the Bears another depth option and top name, and also paves the way for Clay Stevenson to make the NHL jump sooner rather than later with another capable full-time AHLer in the mix.
Ultimately, the move gives the Capitals some more depth, as Garin Bjorklund is the only other AHL/ECHL goaltender besides Stevenson and Gibson under contract with the organization.
Antoine Keller, who Washington took in the seventh round of the 2023 NHL Draft, is still in the Swiss league after terminating his AHL contract earlier this season.