Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan may have stolen all of the hockey headlines Monday night when he executed a trade for highly coveted defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and goalie Pheonix Copley. But his deadline work may not be done, as there are still moves to be made.
Forward Depth
The Capitals were likely considering trading for additional forward depth for the playoff run, prior to the Shattenkirk trade. With the departure of Zach Sanford, the need to find another bottom six forward has likely been amplified. Look for the Capitals to try to land a seasoned veteran rental, preferably a player with playoff experience, to shore up the bottom six for the playoff run.
Stan Galiev
As reported by the Washington Post last week, the Capitals have been looking to deal Stan Galiev, and this move still needs be made. This could be simply accomplished through a low-key swap for a later-round draft pick, or Galiev could be packaged in a bigger move to obtain a forward, as described above. It’s highly likely that MacLellan tried to include Galiev in the trade for Shattenkirk, but St. Louis preferred Sanford. Either way, Galiev is an unrestricted free agent (UFA) at season’s end, so its trade him or lose him at this point.
Taylor Chorney
Taylor Chorney would appear to be the odd man out with the acquisition of Kevin Shattenkirk. It’s not clear what the Capitals plan to do with him, but don’t be surprised if he is included in a deal before the deadline.
By Jon Sorensen
Follow @NoVa_Caps
Since I keep hearing that Shattenkirk figures to be a six month rental I don’t like the fact that they dealt tall, young forward Zack Sanford away at all…I think he’s going to be a damned good player and based on Barry Trotz’ recent remarks about his ability and place in the lineup going forward, I hoped that it was going to be with the Caps. Buit as usual it was more unreliable double-talk…
Personally, I thought that Washington could have won the Cup with their current roster…Moreover I thought the Caps’ brain trust had learned its lesson with the Filip Forsberg dumb-beyond-belief trade three years ago. Let’s hope the Sanford deal doesn’t turn out similarly…
Hopeful but Disgusted,
Clifford
Santa Monica
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