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
I think this is a good keep, regardless of injuries.
Totally agree. Not a flashy D or scorer but a solid player.
Good signing. Is Aheary the only remaining question mark for today?
Did you read the article? It was 3 paragraphs.
He wasn’t resigned and there are several others that are question marks if you will…
Thank you internet police for this helpful call out. Feel better.
Sheary, Craig Smith and NAK are UFAs that could conceivably draw interest. Irwin and McIlrath are also UFAs, but I doubt anyone would spend an asset to obtain either.
Hopefully he signs a contract afterwards, Caps need the depth anyway.
I would say the only drama left in this year’s deadline, is if a GM panics, and makes a surprise trade. Kind of like a certain GM did two years ago, in getting a 6’5″ gentle giant, who floats more than Casper the Ghost
TVR has earned a multi-year extension, three years ideally, four years max. He’s a bit older, but he’s a consummate professional who is widely respected, he’s been durable, is big, and he plays a low impact game. Unless he’s involved in some freak accident, it’s extremely unlikely that the Caps won’t be able to trade him in the future. Given the injuries, it’s not worth moving him for a mid-round pick, just to see him sign an extension wherever we trade him. That would be bad asset management.
His resigning would mean the continuing blockage of our younger d like AA. TVR is a third pair dman. We need to find a first pairing dman.
Will the Caps re-sign Connor Brown for next season? Should they? Or should they not? He probably will have recovered from his ACL knee injury by the time training camp begins in September 2023. If the Caps re-sign Brown, they could trade away Mantha for a veteran defenseman or a future draft pick. The article was absolutely silent on all of that.