The Capitals lost 28 combined years of NHL experience when they traded away veterans Nic Dowd and John Carlson ahead of last week’s trade deadline.

The players remaining in Washington’s locker room are trying to replace their presence — on and off the ice — as a collective.

Dowd and Carlson were famous for being the first players to reach out to new additions and welcome them to the Capitals organization. The rest of the roster is trying to replace that hospitality for the newly acquired pair of Timothy Liljegren and David Kampf.

Defenseman Rasmus Sandin is helping to lead the charge. The 26-year-old played with Kampf and Liljegren on the Toronto Maple Leafs — where Capitals coach Spencer Carbery worked as an assistant — from 2021 to 2023.

Kampf said Sandin was the first Capital who texted him after the Vancouver Canucks traded him to the East Coast. He received more texts than he could count, though.

Liljegren said it’s been helpful to have a familiar face like Sandin to show him around the Capitals’ facility.

“That’s huge, obviously. I think everyone here has been very welcoming from the start, but it sure helps having him here,” Liljegren said.

Most of the Capitals have bittersweet feelings about watching Carlson and Dowd shipped off to championship contenders. It hasn’t shown in their treatment of their new teammates.

“It just feels like a very tight-knit group that has fun every day at the rink,” Liljegren said. “I’m excited to be here and excited to be a part of it.”

Joining a new squad for the final quarter of the season isn’t easy. Carbery has tried to limit the burden on Kampf, who is still waiting for federal officials to approve his visa, and Liljegren.

“It’s been hard, for sure. But this is the business; this is the NHL. It’s part of it. You sign up for it, so it is what it is,” Kampf said. “I’m trying to adjust as best I can and be ready for the game.”

The pair joined a handful of new teammates for an optional practice on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after Liljegren visited Capital One Arena for the first time as a member of the home team.

“I went through the systems and then watched the game,” he said. “I feel like that will help. Once you get playing, I’ll adapt after a few games.”

The Carlson-less Capitals are easing into a new era, led in large part by rookies Ryan Leonard and Justin Sourdif. The youngsters have 33 and 29 points, respectively, on the season. They’re both on track for the highest-scoring rookie campaigns for a Capital since Nicklas Backstrom amassed 69 points in the 2007-08 season.  

But the Capitals are still five points behind the Boston Bruins for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 17 games remaining. Trading away Dowd and Carlson didn’t inspire hope for a playoff push. A loss to Boston on Saturday only worsened Washington’s odds.

The Capitals’ players said, however, they aren’t willing to roll over and plan for the future. Sourdif and Leonard both scored in Washington’s wild 7-3 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday.

“It was a hard couple of days there, losing [Dowd and Carlson.] But our group just stuck together. …” Sourdif said on Monday night. “We’re still in this. That’s the message John and Dowd left with us. We have it in here to keep going and we could get into the playoffs, not to give up hope. We’re not that far out of it.”