The Capitals continue to offload contracts ahead of the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline.

The Washington Capitals continue to offload some contracts ahead of the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline and have traded Joel Edmundson to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Capitals have acquired the New York Islanders' third-round pick in 2024 and the Chicago Blackhawks' fifth-round pick in 2025. The Capitals will retain 50 percent of Edmundson's salary.

Through 44 games this season, Edmundson has racked up one goal and five assists, as well as a plus/minus of minus-5. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent in July.

This is the second consecutive year that the Capitals have made a deal for a defenseman with Toronto, as the team acquired Rasmus Sandin last year for Erik Gustafsson and a draft pick.

For Edmundson, he hadn't been surprised about the possibility of moving and said that going to a contender would be nice, but that his focus was on D.C.'s playoff run. He made the trip to Pittsburgh for Thursday's game against the Penguins.

"I mean, everyone wants to win. I wanna win every year so I think once you get that feeling once, you just want to happen every year and when you see other teams win it, you just kinda get jealous and frustrated," Edmundson had said. "So yeah, we all want to win it every year, but you know, our focus is we want to get into playoffs here. You saw Florida last year, as long as you make it to playoffs, you never know what's going to happen. So our main focus is in this locker room right now."

With Edmundson being shipped out, Ethan Bear is the extra defenseman set to draw into the Capitals lineup against Pittsburgh.