Takeaways From The Capitals' Trade Deadline & GM MacLellan's Thoughts On Team's Moves, Future

ARLINGTON, V.A. — For Washington Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan, the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline 

Here are the takeaways from the Capitals trade deadline:

Quite a few names ended up on the trade board for the Capitals, including center Nic Dowd, left wing Max Pacioretty and goaltender Charlie Lindgren. And though their names garnered attention, MacLellan wasn't trying to trade those names away, and at the end of the day, a deal didn't come along that made sense for the team.

MacLellan added that having used all three salary rendition spots on the roster did not factor into any players not being moved.

"We have good players. There are a lot of inquiries about our guys because teams like them and they're valuable guys," MacLellan said. "We didn't actively look to move the players. We listened to some inquiries on them and if something made sense, we might have considered it more.

"Our goal was to do the things we had to do on the trades and try to keep our team together as much as we could," he added.

MacLellan acquired quite a few picks as part of his sell-off this year, but there were some calls made about bringing some more rising prospects and young players on board.

GMBM tried to replicate his deadline approach from last season, where they were able to flip a draft pick they acquired for rising defenseman Rasmus Sandin, who just signed a five-year extension. However, those talks didn't turn into anything.

"We tried a couple. We identified a couple players, a couple of young guys that we liked and we tried to be aggressive on our offers for them, and it just didn't materialize," MacLellan noted.

MacLellan also added that the market was thin for first-rounders and that there wasn't a lot of availability on that front.

Here's why:

"A lot of the contending teams were the same teams from last year, too, that spent a lot of draft capital and prospects," MacLellan explained. "The way we analyzed it was it was going to be tough to get full value on players because you weren't having as many bidders as you might normally would if everybody had all their draft picks still."

Still, with the Anthony Mantha, Joel Edmundson and Evgeny Kuznetsov trades, MacLellan brought in five more selections, and the team is up to 26 picks over the next three years.

The future didn't look good for the Capitals and Kuznetsov, and over the last few days, the divorce between both sides sped up as the Carolina Hurricanes became involved in trade talks amid Kuznetsov's assignment to Hershey. Ultimately, that's where the Russian would end up on Friday in exchange for a 2025 fifth-rounder.

MacLellan noted that the team had "tried everything we could at the end to get it back on track" with Kuznetsov, but unfortunately, a deal ended up being necessary to get him and the organization a fresh start. He called it a "win-win" for both sides.

“I think it’s hard. I mean, especially when you win together, you don’t wanna — there’s a connection, emotionally, from the fans, from management, from coaches and you just don’t want to let that go. And then sometimes it’s just circumstances you know, create a situation where you have to move on," MacLellan said of the trade, adding later, "You want him to have a good opportunity to continue his career to get back on track."

While MacLellan said that the math doesn't necessarily point to the playoffs, Washington is still making a push and expecting the youth through the organization to help compete.

That said, the Capitals are hoping to get several prospects up over the course of the remainder of the season to get a look up at the highest level. Whether this happens amid injuries or something else, Washington is counting on the likes of Ethen Frank and more to continue to get more experience.

As for call-ups like Ivan Miroshnichenko, the expectation is that he will continue to go back and forth.

- Dowd is getting closer to returning and is "more than likely" to come back after Saturday's game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

- Martin Fehervary is also on the right track and could be back in the mix after the Chicago game.

- T.J. Oshie continues to make progress but needs some more practices and to work his way back into taking contact before drawing back in, but he's expected to be back this sseason.