The Vegas Golden Knights traded goaltender Logan Thompson to the Washington Capitals during the second day of the 2024 NHL Draft.
The 27-year-old Thompson spent parts of four seasons in Las Vegas and was a member of the 2022-23 Stanley Cup team, despite missing the final three months of the season due to injury.
Thompson’s time with the Golden Knights came to an end on Saturday, but the timing was a little awkward. The trade with the Capitals was announced not long before he was scheduled to hold an autograph session for fans inside Sphere in Las Vegas.
But as a way to say goodbye to the fan base that supported him as he got his start in the NHL, Thompson went through with the session, signing autographs and taking photos for an hour.
Logan Thompson still doing autograph signing here minutes after being traded by Golden Knights to Capitals pic.twitter.com/V0ozGdv6pn
Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) June 29, 2024
Logan Thompson is, indeed on the concourse signing autographs. The line is long and getting longer. pic.twitter.com/I1BBe3IO7S
Sean Gentille (@seangentille) June 29, 2024
Speaking with reporters after meeting with fans, Thompson, who has a year left on his contract, didn’t deny that he requested a trade and said he’ll need time to process moving to Washington.
Its weird. Ive never been traded before, in juniors or pro,” Thompson said. “A lot of emotions still running through me. Its going to take a couple of days to process. The only team Ive never known in the NHL is the Golden Knights, so its going to be different.
Thompson was part of the Capitals organization in 2019-20 after signing a one-year deal with their American Hockey League affiliate in Hershey. He also attended their development camp in 2019 and has a relationship with Capitals goaltending coach Scott Murray.
Not long after the Thompson trade, general manager Kelly McCrimmon found a new backup for starter Adin Hill after acquiring restricted free agent Akira Schmid from the New Jersey Devils.