public service announcement: we are now rpfing out Justin Sourdif & Ryan Leonard
in a beautiful turn of events.... a young new rookie romance has blossomed in Washington, DC!
a little context:
Justin Sourdif (23, aries) grew up in Richmond, British Columbia as a Washington Capitals fan!
He was selected 87th overall in the 2020 draft by the Panthers & was assigned to their AHL affiliate for a year. Made his NHL debut on 16 oct 2023 (against the devils) but it was hard for him to secure a spot on the roster due to the nature of the 2023-2024/2024-2025 Panthers cup run lol. Apparently, the Capitals had their sights set on him & tried to trade for him on a number of occasions. They successed before the trade deadline & managed to trade for him on 27 june 2025. Ovi likes "serenading" him before warmups as teammates. He was projected to play on the 4th line with Duhaime & Dowd (came in recently as a replacement for pdl) but recently he's been 2c with leno who assisted his third goal for his first hatty!! He's the first caps rookie to get a hatty since alex ovechkin in january 2006, against the same team in the same building almost 20 years later. he is also the only rookie this season to have a 5 point game...... He keeps mentioning how much fun he's having and how much the caps love each other as a team. He's kinda living the dream #TBH
Ryan Leonard (20, aquarius) grew up west of Boston in Amherst, Massachusetts.
He was selected by the Capitals 8th overall in the 2023 draft. Bruins fan growing up, had his NHL debut against the bruins on 1st of April 2025. Did his two years at the NTDP program alongside Will Smith & Gabe Perreault & was the captain for the 2025 U.S. wjc team (they won). Played college at BC (they lost. here's him crying about it). Has a big family & a big brother who also plays hockey. He has a complex about that, or so they say. He lived with Pierre-Luc Dubois & his wife Maddie for a while his rookie year & learned what dishwasher pods were. He moved out after Maddie gave birth & has taken to "long walks around the city and, most importantly, self-reflection". Duhaime said that in an effort to encourage Leno to cook more, he took him on a trip to Costco to get some pots and pans, and he left with samples and a bag of what duhaime claimed to be Doritos. Turns out he bought seaweed chips instead (???)
Now onto the yaoi.... Ryan Leonard picked up his first NHL assist (regular season) on Justin Sourdif's first goal with the Capitals. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sourds assisted Leno on his goal during the game against the Ducks & 1:36 later, leno set him up for his third goal of the game!!!! Here's what Justin has to say about it:
JS: "Pure excitement. I saw Leno with his arms in the air, (...) he was super excited and I wanted to skate over to him because it was just such a nice pass. That's the kinda player Leno is. He's so smart and he can score and he can pass and he plays physical, he does everything. And he's got a really bright future.
also here is Ryan looking at Justin all lovingly after his goal and then slapping him away like a school girl with a crush
