Photo: Pro Hockey Rumors

The Washington Capitals announced on Sunday that they have re-signed defenseman Trevor Van Riemsdyk to a two-year contract extension that carries a $950,000 cap hit. He was eligible to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season and will be at the end of his new contract.

Hearing #caps have signed D Trevor van Riemsdyk to a 2-year extension. $950k AAV.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 21, 2021

The 29-year-old has recorded one goal, a -3 rating, a 46.96% Corsi-for percentage, a 46.34% expected goals-for percentage, and a 50% scoring chances-for percentage while playing in only nine of the Capitals’ 31 games this season. He has primarily been the team’s seventh defenseman.

Van Riemsdyk signed a one-year contract worth $800,000 with the Capitals on October 10.

He will earn $900,000 in 2021-22 and $1 million in 2022-23.

With Van Riemsdyk under contract, the Capitals will be able to expose another defenseman to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft this July. The Vegas Golden Knights selected Van Riemsdyk in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft as their pick from the Chicago Blackhawks before flipping him to the Carolina Hurricanes.

In 373 career regular-season games with the Blackhawks, Hurricanes, and Capitals, Van Riemsdyk has posted 16 goals, 70 points, and a +7 rating. His best season came with the Blackhawks in 2016-17, when he set career-highs with five goals and a +17 rating and matched his career-high with 16 points.

While averaging 15:07 of ice-time per game, including 2:03 on the penalty kill (fourth among Capitals’ defensemen), this season, Van Riemsdyk has recorded an average of 1.76 hits-per-60, 5.73 blocked shots-per-60 (second behind Jonas Siegenthaler: 6.40), 0.88 giveaways-per-60 (second behind Dmitry Orlov: 0.85), and 0.44 takeaways-per-60 (last).

In 26 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, Van Riemsdyk has recorded one goal, two points, and a -7 rating. He won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2015, when he scored one goal and earned a -3 rating in seven postseason games.

Van Riemsdyk signed with the Blackhawks as a free agent on March 24, 2014, after three years at the University of New Hampshire.

The Capitals now have $16,441,667 remaining in cap space for the 2021-22 season but that could go up if the Kraken take a decent-sized contract off of the team’s book at the expansion draft. Siegenthaler (RFA), captain Alex Ovechkin (UFA), forward Jakub Vrana (RFA), goaltender Ilya Samsonov (RFA), forward Conor Sheary (UFA), and defenseman Zdeno Chara (UFA) are in need of new contracts after this season.

With Van Riemsdyk in the mix, the Capitals have four right-handed defensemen (him, John Carlson, Justin Schultz, and Nick Jensen) under contract for next season.

By Harrison Brown