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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.”
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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
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