Capitals condemn offensive comments made by Brendan Leipsic

The Capitals are aware of offensive comments made on social media by forward Brendan Leipsic, according to a team spokesman.

Leipsic’s derogatory messages were directed at current teammates Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway whom Leipsic played a majority of the season with, former teammates from the Vancouver Canucks and the wife of a current Canucks player.

Leipsic’s Instagram page was deleted as of Wednesday. He responded to the comments via a statement on Twitter.

The Caps released the following statement on Wednesday, per a team spokesman: “We are aware of the unacceptable and offensive comments made by Brendan Leipsic in a private conversation on social media. We will handle this matter internally.”

Leipsic was signed as a free agent last summer to a $700,000, one-year deal. He scored three goals and eight assists in 61 games before the NHL season was halted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but had not played since Feb. 23 when the team traded for forward Ilya Kovalchuk. Leipsic appeared likely to be a depth forward for the remainder of the season.

The NHL also released a statement regarding Leipsic, saying that the league, “condemns the misogynistic and reprehensible remarks made by Brendan Leipsic and Jack Rodewald in a private group chat has surfaced on social media. There is no place in our League for such statements, attitudes and behavior, no matter the forum. We will address this inexcusable conduct with the clubs and players involved.”

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