The Vegas Golden Knights made a move to shore up their center depth Thursday, acquiring Nic Dowd from the Washington Capitals for a package of a goaltending prospect and two draft picks.

Dowd, 35, carries a $3 million cap hit and is under contract through next season. He brings a defensive-minded game and penalty-killing expertise to a Vegas lineup that has been without centers William Karlsson (lower body) and Brett Howden (undisclosed).

The Knights sent goaltending prospect Jesper Vikman, a 2027 third-round pick, and a 2029 second-round pick to Washington in the deal. Dowd has 16 points in 55 games this season, averaging 15:33 of ice time. He leads all Capitals forwards in shorthanded ice time at 2:40 per game, ranking 10th in the NHL.

To make room on the roster, Vegas placed captain Mark Stone on injured reserve Thursday. Stone is day to day with an upper-body injury suffered Sunday against Pittsburgh and will miss the next two home games against Minnesota on Friday and Edmonton on Sunday.

Dowd, a former seventh-round pick by the Los Angeles Kings in 2009, has 192 points in 637 career games. He has spent the last eight seasons with the Capitals, joining them in 2018-19.

He is the second bottom-six forward the Knights have acquired in three days. Winger Cole Smith was brought in from Nashville on Tuesday for a third-round pick and defenseman prospect Christoffer Sedoff.

The trade deadline is noon Friday. The Knights have roughly $1.5 million in cap space remaining for any further moves.