Washington Capitals sign Reid Cooper to amateur tryout

The Washington Capitals have joined the amateur tryout goaltender trend.

The Caps signed goaltender Reid Cooper to an amateur tryout on Thursday, and he is set to be the backup goalie for the Caps season finale.

The Caps were in need of a goalie after regular backup Charlie Lindgren suffered an injury during Tuesday’s game against the Boston Bruins. He was sprawling to make a kick save when he landed awkwardly on the ice, and he left the game early in the third period. He stopped 33 of 36 shots in the game, as he was credited with the loss in the Bruins 5-2 defeat of the Caps.

The Capitals needed an ATO goalie as they are tight up against the cap, with only $77,950 in space today according to Capfriendly, including the $7,954,936 in relief they’re getting from Connor Brown, Carl Hagelin, and Kody Clark on long-term injured reserve. Since Lindgren doesn’t need to be placed on LTIR, they had no way of getting cap relief to call up someone from the Hershey Bears in the AHL, so they had to go the route of signing Cooper to an ATO. With this being the final game of the regular season for the Caps, their minor league goalies had more to play for in the AHL anyways, with the Hershey Bears sitting in first in the Atlantic Division and close to the beginning of the playoffs.

Cooper joins the Caps bench having just completed his second season at Curry College, a Division III NCAA team. He had a 20-6-1 record in 27 games, along with a .935 save percentage and a shutout.

With this being the season finale, it also means it’s the end of the season for Lindgren. He finishes the year with a 13-11-3 record, an .899 save percentage, and -3.7 5v5 goals saved above expected. He’ll be back next season, as he still has two years remaining on his contract with a $1.1 million cap hit.