General manager Brian MacLellan revealed in his draft presser that the Capitals had inquired about moving up from the eighth overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Going into the 2023 NHL Draft, the Washington Capitals had a nice pool of prospects to pick from with the No. 8 pick and knew they'd be getting a key piece of the future by the time they were on the clock. They were happy to see that Ryan Leonard fell far enough for them to take at eighth overall, but they did try to move up.
General manager Brian MacLellan revealed to reporters in Nashville that the Capitals made a couple of calls about a possible move up from eighth, but they never came close to a deal.
"We talked to a couple of teams but it didn't seem like it was gonna happen, so ended up that we had to sit there" MacLellan told reporters. "It seemed like everybody had their guy that they wanted to get. People shuffling around a little bit, but everybody wanted to stand pat."
There were no trades on Day 1 of the 2023 NHL Draft, as all of the organizations were content with keeping their selections and picking from a rather stacked draft class.
Washington had reportedly been "seriously aimed" at taking Russian sensation Matvei Michkov, who had been pegged as the top forward in the draft behind Connor Bedard but slid down due to concerns with his KHL contract and reported character issues.
The Russian did come close to falling to the Capitals, but the Philadelphia Flyers took him just one pick before and made it clear that was their choice with a custom jersey for the draft's most enigmatic prospect. The pick didn't come as a surprise to D.C.
For Washington, though, getting Leonard was a best-case scenario, as the team admitted to being surprised that he was still there.
"Great pick. Excited to get him. Like the player, like the personality," MacLellan said, adding, "He's a hard-working player, competitive, he's strong on the puck. He's gonna score some goals, he gets to the net. A lot of attributes you want in a power forward.
MacLellan also said that the Capitals also considered moving up for Andrew Cristall, who they thought would go in the first round, but they were surprised to see that he fell to No. 40.
Washington made just one draft deal, acquiring the San Jose Sharks' seventh-round selection (No. 206) for a 2025 seventh-rounder. With that pick, the Capitals acquired French netminder Antoine Keller.