According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Trevor Van Riemsdyk will stay on the Washington Capitals past the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline at 3 PM ET on Friday after losing Martin Fehervary and Nick Jensen due to injury in Wednesday’s 3-2 overtime win at the Anaheim Ducks.
The two sides have also reportedly discussed a contract extension.
Washington has reportedly used the same process of negotiating with their pending unrestricted free agents and decided whether to trade them based on those conversations. Defenseman Dmitry Orlov and right-wing Garnet Hathaway (Boston Bruins), center Lars Eller (Colorado Avalanche), and defenseman Erik Gustafsson (Toronto Maple Leafs) have all been moved by the team in the past eight days.
Washington extended Jensen’s contract by three years earlier this week.
Van Riemsdyk, 31, has earned career-highs in goals (six) and points (18) in 63 games so far this season. He has also tallied a +9 rating, 51.24% five-on five Corsi-for percentage, 52.97% five-on five expected goals-for percentage, and 52.65% five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage.
Van Riemsdyk carries just a $950,000 NHL salary cap hit for 2022-23.
Left-wing Conor Sheary, right-wing Craig Smith, right-wing Connor Brown, defenseman Matt Irwin, and right-wing Nicolas Aube-Kubel can all become unrestricted free agents on July 1. With Jensen, Rasmus Sandin (who was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of the Gustafsson deal), and John Carlson, Washington has just three blueliners under contract for next season.
Hearing WASH has decided to keep Trevor van Riemsdyk, due to current injury situation on blueline. There are rumblings player and team have discussed a post-deadline extension, but that is unconfirmed at this time.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 3, 2023
By Harrison Brown