Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson is not on the trade block. Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan squashed the notion, once again, in a message to TSN’s Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun.
“He’s not calling teams about Tom Wilson, he does not want to trade Tom Wilson, [and] he’s not sure why that’s out there,” LeBrun said of MacLellan’s message to him.
Rumors surfaced again on Monday when former Ottawa Senators’ defenseman Jason York said he was hearing the Capitals were shopping Wilson, this time specifically to Ottawa.
Former #Sens D Jason York, speaking on a show he does Monday, with a local podcaster, said he’s hearing the Washington Capitals would like to make a deal to send rugged winger Tom Wilson to Ottawa. If that’s the case, he’d be a solid addition.
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) June 26, 2023
Rumors about Capitals wanting to trade Wilson also surfaced a few weeks ago during the Stanley Cup finals. Reports stated that the Los Angeles Kings “kicked the tires” on potentially acquiring Wilson.
A nugget that comes at the end of the new episode of KOTP.
We’ve heard Kings have kicked tires on Caps forward Tom Wilson, who is entering the last year of his deal. https://t.co/IRokN0K0me— Dennis Bernstein (@DennisTFP) June 11, 2023
That rumor was quickly squashed by Sportsnet’s’ Elliotte Friedman.
“During the final, I really didn’t get a chance to look into it too much. I heard the reports. I’ll be honest, I didn’t hear any of the information myself. But I heard the reports. So I finally looked into it now that the Stanley Cup Final is over, and I got rejected,” said Friedman.
“I was told it’s not happening. I was told that the Capitals want to keep him, and they consider him a big part of their future.”
Wilson is entering the final year of his current deal which carries a cap hit of $5.17 million.
Wilson had 13 goals and 22 points in 33 games this season after he returned from a torn ACL suffered in the 2022 playoffs.
on another topic…
after an extensive article filled to the brim with pics from the Bears celebration, I comment this way (and have been put in a one-day timeout for it. Tell me exactly what is wrong with it)
“Congrats and bravo BEARS!
a lot of great pics, but as usual not labeled. (most people can’t recognize the players, so it would have been nice to label each one.)”
forgot to mention that it happened on another site, NOT this one.
We need to stat taking note of these rumor-generators and act accordingly.
Of course if you want to maximize Tom Wilson’s trade value, this is exactly what a GM would say.
Everybody hates Willy, but love to dream about having him on their team.
Id take em any day
Hey Jon, do you ever see GMBM “Fleecing ” anyone in a trade like Sakic and Yzerman continuously do?
I don’t see GMBM doing very well when it comes to trades for players, he always gets burned adding draft picks (except for Oshie although GM Armstrong was atrocious at trades during that time but he is now doing much much better in trades)
It just seems like GMBM wants to be everyones friend : Agents, other GM’s and Core players (by offering ridiculous “loyalty” contracts $$ and trading away Young players like Stephenson, Vrana, Burakovsky b/c he couldn’t make the tough business decision of selling while the core players value was high and replacing the core with young guys).
Now we’re stuck with Old Guys!
To me he undervalues his assets and continuously overpays in Trades.
Thoughts?
The only Tom Wilson question with the Caps is — Will the long-term contract extension be settled before or after Christmas
Tom has said that he will NOT negotiate a contract during the season. So that gives GMBM roughly 2 1/2 months to get a deal done or watch Tom walk after the season. I believe that Tom is betting on himself to have a great year and raise the ceiling on his new contract in both dollars and length. What would make the Gm’s job easier would be if Backy would just retire and stop all this silliness about wanting to be an elite player; sorry Backy that time has passed and now you are dragging down the team both with your lack of ELITE play and salary. Memories are nice but they don’t win games. So GMBM step up and do your job and get Wilson signed, tell Backy he can either retire or ask to be released to see if he cant catch on with another team or be cut.
I doubt the Caps are shopping Wilson. But if the “right” return came along, would they turn around. Such as if the Senators offered Alex DeBrincat or if the Maple Leafs offered William Nylander who both have the virtue of being productive forwards and younger than Tom Wilson. In any case, if the Caps are trading Wilson, they better get a da**** good return for him.
Since Tom said he would not negotiate during the season I would imagine the the Capsmay trade him during the season if he is having a good year and they get a good package. So this would probably be a team that is one of the top 4 in any conference and looking to shore up toughness and scoring the a long playoff run but knowing that they will only have him for a few months. I think Tom is telling the Caps either come to the table with a huge offer both financially and in terms of length or I am willing to bet on myself and see what I get offered in free agency.
Everyone wants willy rangers kings Toronto
Do not trade Tom Wilson best player