Capitals name Connor Leslie emergency backup goaltender

A young man who grew up near The District might have a chance to play for his hometown team.

On Monday, the Washington Capitals announced that the team has hired Connor Leslie as the team’s first full-time emergency backup.

The news comes as the NHL turns the page to its new collective bargaining agreement. Along with aspects such as a playoff salary cap and looser dress code, teams are now required to have full-time emergency backups on their staff, rather than have a person waiting in the stands on game nights, in case either team in action needed someone to strap on the pads on a whim.

In an interview with NHL.com’s Mike Vogel, Leslie, a graduate of the Washington Little Caps hockey program, calls the news a “full circle moment.”

“It’s pretty surreal,” Leslie said. “Obviously, growing up playing eight years of Little Caps, it was one of those periods of my life that really established how much I loved hockey. And just being around the culture, getting to look up to a lot of these Caps players who were at the rink when I was practicing and stuff like that was really cool. And now to get the chance to be around them and support them in whatever way I can this upcoming year is a really cool opportunity, and I’m just so blessed for that.”

After building up his credentials in his hometown, the Leesburg, Va. native played junior hockey wit hthe NCDC’s Twin City Thunder, before attending Amherst College, playing for the school’s NCAA D-III men’s program. In four seasons, he posted a record of 18-13-4, with a 2.65 goals-against average, a .901 save percentage and three shutouts.