The Washington Capitals have added another goaltender to the mix, landing Remi Poirier from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a 2027 seventh-round draft pick.
For New Jersey, the move comes a little more than a week after the blockbuster Connor Hellebuyck deal, and it marks another trade involving a goalie. Poirier had been claimed on waivers by the Devils before this season, but he never got into an NHL game for them. Rather than try to send him down to the American Hockey League and risk losing him on waivers, New Jersey turned him into a draft asset.
The deal also helps Washington rebuild some of the organizational depth it lost when Clay Stevenson was claimed by the Winnipeg Jets via waivers before the season.
Poirier is 25 and comes from Farnham, Quebec. He spent all of last season with the Dallas Stars’ AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, and put together a strong year: a 27-19-6 record, a .912 save percentage and a 2.61 goals-against average in 52 appearances. He added a 2-3 record, a .883 SV% and a 2.92 GAA in Texas’ first-round playoff loss to the Chicago Wolves in five games.
Dallas picked Poirier in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, but he has still not appeared in an NHL game. After a four-year junior run with the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), he turned pro full time in 2022-23 and split that season between the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads and Texas. He then spent the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons entirely with Texas, posting a combined 34-27-6 record with a .906 SV% and a 2.85 GAA.
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The Capitals have added another name to their goaltending mix, acquiring Rmi Poirier from the Devils in exchange for a 2027 seventh-round pick. It is the kind of low-cost move teams make when they want to shore up organizational depth without changing the top of the chart, and Washington had a clear opening after losing its previous third-string netminder.
Poirier brings professional experience from the AHL and ECHL, but his path in New Jersey never really opened up. He did not appear in a game for the Devils during the 2026-27 season, so the question for Washington is less about what it gave up than what it can get out of a goalie who arrives with room to climb and a chance to carve out a role. [Read more 🡒]
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McIlraths next stop is now tied to the waiver process, and if he makes it through, the path points back to Hershey. He has been a key figure for the Bears before, serving as captain and helping the AHL club win two Calder Cup titles, so a return there would be more of a reset than a surprise, even if it leaves his immediate NHL future hanging in the balance. [Read more 🡒]
