Capitals claim defenseman off waivers from Winnipeg

The Capitals have a new defenseman, and they didn't have to give up anything to get him. Read more: Capitals claim Jack St. Ivany off waivers from Winnipeg

Washington claimed Jack St. Ivany off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, general manager Chris Patrick announced. The 27-year-old becomes the latest addition to a Capitals blue line that has been short on healthy bodies for more than a week.

St. Ivany is 6-foot-4 and 197 pounds, a right-shot defenseman the Flyers took in the fourth round in 2018, 112th overall. He never signed with Philadelphia. He played two college seasons at Yale and two more at Boston College, finishing with 60 points in 115 games. He also won silver with the United States at the 2019 World Junior Championship.

His path to the NHL ran through Pittsburgh. The Penguins signed him as a free agent. Then he spent four seasons bouncing to and from their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, putting up 45 points in 162 games there. Last season he set career highs with Pittsburgh across the board: 20 games, seven assists, seven points, 17 shots, a plus-4 rating.

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Four games, one new team

Winnipeg acquired St. Ivany from Pittsburgh in a June trade that sent forward David Gustafsson the other way. He made the Jets' season-opening roster and played four games before getting waived, all without a point.

In that limited run he averaged 13:31 a night and led Winnipeg's defensemen in blocked shots per 60 minutes at 5.54. He also ranked second on the back end in hits per 60 at 6.65. For his NHL career, spent almost entirely with Pittsburgh, he has nine points, all assists, in 57 games.

Vincent Desharnais is out an estimated four to six weeks after an appendectomy. That puts his return somewhere in the back half of November at the earliest. Rasmus Sandin is also sidelined, which had left the Capitals with six healthy defensemen before the claim.

St. Ivany, a right-shot defenseman, gives the organization another NHL body to slot in. He also has a familiar voice already in the building: development coach Brooks Orpik was his coach at Boston College.

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Depth, not a promotion

St. Ivany isn't walking into a top-four role. He is waiver-claim depth, brought in to stand behind a banged-up group rather than to push anyone out of the lineup. But Desharnais is out for weeks, and Sandin's return is uncertain. So Washington needed exactly this kind of player on the roster now, not in December.

The Capitals are off Sunday and Monday. They host Philadelphia on Wednesday. That is St. Ivany's first chance to make his case for actual minutes in a Washington sweater. The Flyers drafted him in 2018 and never signed him.