Following a white-hot month of December, the Washington Capitals entered the new year by erasing the ground they made up in the playoff race. Since January 1st, the Capitals are the second-worst team in the NHL in standings points, just edging out the Vancouver Canucks after the overtime victory against the Anaheim Ducks Wednesday night.
In the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, it appeared that the Caps and General Manager Brian MacLellan were teetering on the edge of buying or selling assets. After suffering five straight losses from February 12th through February 21st, the decision to sell was clearly made.
In this post, we’re going to grade the trades that MacLellan has made leading up to the trade deadline. We will also take a look at the big picture regarding roster construction and the salary cap situation the Caps will have to work with to complete the roster retool. Salary cap and contract information are via CapFriendly.
TRADE GRADES
Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov (50% salary retained) to the Boston Bruins for Craig Smith, Boston’s 2023 1st round pick, 2024 3rd round pick, and 2025 2nd round pick
The first move in selling-off players on expiring contracts was a rather big one: the Caps traded long-time defenseman Dmitry Orlov and beloved fourth liner Garnet Hathaway to the league leading Boston Bruins. In return, the Caps received a nice bounty of draft picks to add to their trade chip pile. In order to make salaries work, the Capitals took back pending unrestricted free agent Craig Smith.
If you look around the league at other defensemen traded at the deadline, Orlov basically cost the Bruins a 1st and a 3rd rounder, and Hathaway netted a second round pick, likely as a sweetener, for taking on Craig Smith’s contract. You might wonder if the Caps could have received a bit better of a return on Hathaway and Orlov if he decided not to package them together.
Grade: B+
Marcus Johansson to the Minnesota Wild for the Wild’s 2024 3rd round pick
After becoming somewhat of a journeyman after being traded to the New Jersey Devils by the Caps before the 2017-18 season (poor MoJo), Johansson put together a solid year, posting 13 goals and 15 assists in 60 games this season. For an expiring asset who’ll likely slot into Minnesota’s middle six forward group, the return is pretty much as expected.
Grade: B
Erik Gustafsson and Boston’s 2023 1st round pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Rasmus Sandin
At first glance, some Caps fans might have been concerned that the Caps already turned around and sold the top asset they received from the Boston Bruins when they traded Hathaway and Orlov. But, this is exactly the kind of move that MacLellan should have made; he acquired a 22 year-old, proven NHL defenseman, that’s in need of a bigger role than he was currently getting in Toronto.
Gustafsson had a resurgent year in Washington this season, but the soon-to-be 31 year-old defenseman is going to be looking for a pretty substantial pay raise from his $800k contract this season.
This was a very shrewd move by MacLellan. He capitalized on the reinvigorated Gustafsson and flipped a likely very late first round pick for a former first round pick in Sandin. On top of that, Sandin has another year on his contract at $1.4M, and then he will be a restricted free agent. The Caps get a defenseman that’ll likely be in their top four for at least the rest of the Ovechkin Era.
Grade: A
Lars Eller (31% salary retained) to the Colorado Avalanche for the Avalanche’s 2025 2nd round pick
This is an absolute coup for MacLellan. Getting a second round pick (albeit a few years away) for an aging and less effective Eller is an excellent return. We’ll all remember the two huge goals that Eller scored for the Caps in the 2018 Stanley Cup run, but it was time to move on.
Grade: A+
Looking ahead to the off-season
As MacLellan looks to retool this roster on the fly, look for him to be aggressive on the trade market and in free agency, to plug the gaps in the roster. The Capitals need to get younger NHL-caliber talent on the roster to support the aging veteran group of players.
On top of that, there are some key types of players the Caps should be targeting this off-season. The trade market will likely be the best place to acquire those players, so look for MacLellan to address team needs using the assets gained from selling this season.
The state of the current roster for 2023-24
As it currently stands, the Capitals have 11 forwards, 3 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders from the current NHL roster under contract for next season. With the extensions of Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Nick Jensen, the Caps filled slots in the roster on the fourth line and the second pairing, respectfully. The Capitals need to re-sign Alexander Alexeyev and Martin Fehervary, who are restricted free agents, to secure a young left side of the defensive corps along with Rasmus Sandin.
The Capitals will need to target a right-handed defenseman for the third pairing if they don’t extend Trevor van Riemsdyk or if they think Vinny Iorio needs another year of seasoning in the AHL. There’s another forward slot available in the lineup that the Caps could use on a middle six forward.
Realistically, the Caps need to add two forwards (one for depth) and a right handed defenseman to the roster for next season. After the extensions to Aube-Kubel and Jensen, the Caps will have $10,369,166 in cap space (if the cap ceiling rises to $83.5M). That kind of cap space can be plenty if you’re acquiring younger players on their entry level contract or on an inexpensive second contract.
The question becomes, if you want to make a splash for a more expensive younger player, how do you make the space work? Fehervary will likely command a decent raise from his current cap hit of $791,667.
The Capitals will have to make a decision on Anthony Mantha and his sizable cap hit of $5.7M. This is a tough one. Do you trade him for a middling return like the Detroit Red Wings received from the St Louis Blues for Jakub Vrana? Do you wait it out to see if he performs better? Do you buy him out in the off-season to save $4,333,333 against the cap next season?
Mantha hasn’t performed to expectations since becoming a Capital, so something is bound to happen there. The Capitals need to add more scoring touch to the lineup. The only pure goalscorer on the roster is Ovechkin, and the Caps need more scoring depth to be successful.
[Related: Finishing Form: The Leading Indicator Of The Capitals Lack Of Success In The 2022-23 Season]
Overall, the Caps and MacLellan are entering a key stretch this off-season. There’s a lot of questions facing this lineup in terms of supporting the aging core in hopes of extending the competitive window before the Ovechkin Era ends.
This off-season will likely be MacLellan’s defining legacy as the general manager of the Capitals. If he fails, the Caps will fail hard, and the Caps will likely be looking for a new general manager.
By Justin Trudel