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In his nearly 10 seasons on the job, Washington Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan has had his fair share of swings and misses regarding personnel decisions, including at the annual trade deadline. With yet another deadline come and gone, he discussed the day’s moves, and shared the thought process of the Caps.
Pragmatic may be the best word to describe the Capitals’ 2024 deadline strategy. No longer one of the heavyweight contenders with several years left to try for a Stanley Cup with Alex Ovechkin, the Caps entered the 2024 Trade Deadline with a focus on the future.
Perhaps no move signaled the stark contrast of the President’s Trophy-winning years to the present day than the move of longtime forward Evgeny Kuznetsov to the Carolina Hurricanes. After nearly 10 years in D.C., the change of scenery for No. 92 had been days in the making.
“We had numerous conversations with Carolina about possibilities about how it might look”, said MacLellan, confirming that the process had begun after the Caps waived Kuznetsov on Monday. “The idea behind waiving him was to generate some kind of change.”
Report: Washington Capitals Trade Kuznetsov To Carolina Hurricanes For 2025 Third-Round Pick
Kuznetsov’s departure leaves just five members of the 2018 Stanley Cup-winning club in Washington; Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, John Carlson, TJ Oshie, and Nicklas Backstrom (whose future is uncertain after the franchise icon stepped away from the game earlier this year).
“He’s done a great job for the organization, we’re gonna miss him”, MacLellan reflected, citing Kuznetsov’s role in the 2018 championship run. MacLellan, who constructed the Stanley Cup team, acknowledged that the team tried to get Kuznetsove back to his top form, but things ultimately didn’t work out. “It’s hard especially when you win together. There’s a connection…and you just don’t want to let that go. And then sometimes it’s just circumstances created a situation where you have to move on…”
With the Caps still just outside playoff contention, the front office’s approach was focused on setting themselves up for a future rebuild and a Capitals team without its veteran core. The acquisition of a number of draft picks (including the Kuznetsov deal) indicated such a process.
“I think our goal was to do the things we had to do on the trades and try to keep our team together as much we could”, said MacLellan of the club’s approach, saying he listened on players Washington did not deal, “We didn’t actively look to move the players. We listened to some inquiries on them and if something made sense we might’ve considered it more.”
While some names that had been floated extensively on social media and by pundits in the days leading up to deadline day were not among those dealt by the Caps, it was clear from MacLellan’s comments that the improved play of young players such as Hendrix Lapierre and Connor McMichael have given him confidence that making a move for the sake of doing so was not in the team’s best interest, indicating the club could look at some of their prospects in Hershey.
To hear/watch MacLellan’s full comments, see below:
By Michael Fleetwood
More Trade Deadline:
Washington Capitals Trade Edmundson To Toronto Maple Leafs For 2024 Third-, 2025 Fifth-Round Picks
Report: Washington Capitals Trade Anthony Mantha To Vegas Golden Knights
Big difference in how the trades (and team) are being reflected in articles about Caps and Pits. Basically, they are as different as the last game’s score.
Maybe because we have a better prospect pool. Maybe it’s because so many of us disagreed with Lavi’s Vets Only philosophy. Maybe because we already lost Backy so were over that trauma. But Caps articles, fans, and players have pretty much accepted the fact that the team needs to move on and adapt.
The sky has fallen in Pittsburgh. Shrinks must be working 24/7 there dealing with fans and players. They had already lost important parts of their Cup winning rosters and had talked about needing to get younger, and I assumed that their reaction would be very similar to the Caps. Boy was I wrong.
As to Kuzy, from X: “My goodness, Evgeny Kuznetsov is here! Just stepping on the ice, the newest #Canes forward is wearing his usual #92. Rod Brind’Amour paused practice moments later and brought everyone together at center, and they all let out a huge roar to welcome the group’s latest addition.”
I hope it works out for him. Even if it means him scoring a goal against us. I hate seeing talent wasted and in this case, the lives of him and his family as well. Good luck Kuzy.
So what is their reaction, in a few words? I know you dropped a brief comment the other day, saying it was all about the trades and nothing about Sullivan (surprised). What’s it like now? Sky is falling – so in which direction are they looking, who are they roasting now? Dubas? Sullivan, after all? The vets? Very interested to know what they’re thinking.
The Athletic had a long article from their beat writer Josh Yohe, saying that the Penguins are hamstrung by their many long contracts, with ageing vets, and so a rebuild is not possible.
Looking at it as objectively as possible (which ain’t easy, seeing as how I hate them with every fiber of my being), I’d say he’s right. They’ll be good enough to stick in the mushy middle, but not good enough for lottery picks. So expect a bland, mediocre Penguins team for about the next five years, about as much fun as eating a rice cake.
Very informative, thx! They did dump Guentzel and Ruhwedel. Don’t know what that does. Maybe even more mediocre from now on)
But about rice cakes… Apparently, you haven’t been to Japan or China that much) Well, I can tell you, they come in all kinds of shapes and flavors. Crunchy ones – wasabi, shrimp, soy sauce, and so on. The soft and gooey ones are usually sweet – with all kinds of fillings and flavors. The works! Bring ‘em back all the time. But obviously, not the Pens’ case, I got it. 😁
Agreed.
Pits are now owned by the Fenway Group. I’m not sure that they are going to let it go that long. OK, they couldn’t come to terms with Guentzel so trading him wasn’t a retooling. And I still expect them to re-sign Sid. Not so sure Sullivan will be behind the bench come September although it is said that he has the private and public support of Fenway and Sid. But, as you say, Pits just might not be able to do anything about their roster.
Outside ‘experts’ expected Pits to make a lot of trades. They didn’t. Some writers (such as Yohe) now put that on the players that they had to offer:
Malkin, 37, 2 years, $6m, no movement clause
Letang, 37, 4 years, $6m, no movement
Rust, 32, 4 years, $5m, nmc
Rakell, 31, 4 years, $5m, modified no trade clause
Smith, 32, 1 year, $5m, m-ntc
Karlsson, 33, 3 years, $10m, nmc
Graves, 28, 6 years, $4.5m, m-ntc
Will be interesting to see if Dubas can do more this summer. Their prospect pool is usually ranked at or near the bottom of the NHL so they can’t unload for draft picks or future considerations. They need to find younger players that can play now.
The Caps look to be in a bed of roses compared to Pits. Our prospects are doing great and getting even better in Hershey and North Charleston (Pits traded their AHL goalie yesterday). Our call-ups have been showing some great promise. We have some too old players and too-big and too-long contracts, but not as many.
So yeah, right now I would say that Pits will not be competitive for a while. Can Fenway accept that?
Shocked silence. After the game I expected diatribes against Sullivan or certain players. That was after all a complete disaster. But they didn’t want to talk about it.
Recaps were pretty much “Penguins didn’t show. On to real news — who is being traded.” Others (such as The Athletic article Anon mentions) are starting to delve into it. Non-Pits sites are still pushing the “Sid will leave” idea since it appears that he needs a new contract (I don’t see that happening). Some doubts about whether Dubas is the man for the job, nothing really about Sullivan (I saw his name in a number of hot seat articles a month ago but nothing now). And again, these are the non-Pits writers. From the sites I feel are more invested in them, it’s just shocked silence.
I see… Very peculiar.
I agree -it’s puzzling. What struck me most, however, was the salary break down. So many really good players on club-friendly contracts!!! Like him or not, Malkin is one terrific hockey player. On that list, only Karlson is overpaid.