Washington Capitals forward prospect Hendrix Lapierre was a healthy scratch for the Hershey Bears game against the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday afternoon. It was the first time Lapierre was a healthy scratch this season.

Bears bench boss Todd Nelson spoke about the scratching of Lapierre during his regular appearance on the Bears pregame show on Saturday.

“Lappy’s sitting out, just because, right now he is frustrated. We kinda wanna use this as a reset button for him. He’s a great kid, he’s a student of the game. We just want him to watch the game from up top. Watch the intensity of the players, playing. We just feel that his intensity has to rise up. That’s very common with a young player like him. He’ll get back in the lineup very soon.”

Lapierre has 10 goals and 14 assists in 47 games played so far this season, but has no goals and just three assists in the last 10 games played.

Lapierre is nearing a career-high for games played in a season (52 games), as he has missed a number of games in the previous three seasons due to injury, Covid shutdowns, etc.

Lapierre, 21, is a 6’-0”, 180 lb forward from Gatineau, Quebec. He was drafted by the Capitals in the first round (22nd overall) of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

Lapierre signed a three-year entry-level contract on October 27, 2020, for an average annual value of $925,000. With two year’s of entry-level slides, he will be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2025.

By Jon Sorensen