The Washington Capitals and Seattle Kraken will seek to improve their offenses this summer. Given the limited depth in the free-agent market, they will attempt to make trades.
The Washington Capitals and Seattle Kraken failed to qualify for the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs.
As both clubs head into the off-season, they will be busy trying to improve their respective rosters for next season. Given the limited options in this summer's shallow free-agent pool, they could turn to the trade market to address their roster needs.
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic interviewed Capitals GM Chris Patrick last week about the club's performance this season and how they might improve. He noted that Patrick is expected to continue retooling his roster on the fly.
Landing a scoring winger is a priority.
LeBrun reported that Patrick attempted to sign Nikolaj Ehlers last summer, but the veteran right winger opted to join the Carolina Hurricanes. He also looked into acquiring Artemi Panarin before the New York Rangers traded the playmaking left winger to the Los Angeles Kings in February.
Patrick knows the asking prices for the top talent in this summer's trade market will be expensive.
However, he believes his club has the tradeable assets to make a competitive bid. One of them could be the first-round pick they acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in the John Carlson trade.
Meanwhile, the Kraken have failed to build on their sole playoff appearance in 2023, missing the post-season for the third straight year.
Matt Calkins of The Seattle Times believes management has little choice but to rebuild the roster. They lack a star player, and their anemic offense forces them to play a less-entertaining defensive style.
According to Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos, Kraken GM Jason Botterill attempted to acquire a scoring forward before last month's trade deadline.
Kypreos reported Botterill pursued Panarin but lost out to the Kings. He also claimed the Kraken GM was interested in St. Louis Blues forwards Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas but couldn't convince them to waive their no-movement clauses. The duo actually has no-trade clauses, and Thomas said he was never approached by Blues management about waiving his clause.
Like the Capitals, the Kraken have some trade capital to work with, including two first-round picks in each of the next two drafts.
They also have a decent prospect pool to draw on for trade bait. Of the two teams, the Capitals could have an easier time landing talent. They were a playoff club last season, and while superstar Alex Ovechkin could retire this summer, they still possess sufficient depth in established and promising talent to be an attractive destination.
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