It has become obvious that Washington Capitals management has reconsidered the direction of the team given the season of surprises in 2022-23. This can be reflected by the trades general manager Brian MacLellan has made in the past year. In this article, I will examine these trades and where they have brought the team.
Regrouping for the Playoff Push
The Capitals have been looking for a solid starting goalie ever since the departure of former Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Braden Holtby. The team’s former 2014 second-round pick and now 27-year-old Vitek Vanecek did a decent job in his first two seasons with the team. But as the saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side.
Out west, Darcy Kuemper wasn’t looking like he would re-sign with the Colorado Avalanche, the team he helped win the Stanley Cup. Luckily, he was interested in joining the Capitals and filling a big role. So on July 8, 2022, the Capitals shipped Vanecek to the New Jersey Devils alongside a second-round pick in that year’s draft in exchange for a higher-positioned pick in the same round and a 2023 third-round pick. A few days later, they signed Kuemper to a five-year contract worth $26.25 million.
After a year, what has this trade done? To give you that answer, I’ll start by noting that one team missed the playoffs for the first time in years while the other finally made them. With the Devils, Vanecek started 52 games and got 33 wins while putting up a 2.45 goals-against average (GAA) and a .911 save percentage (SV%). In Washington, Kuemper still had a respectable season with a 2.85 GAA and a .909 SV%, but it seemed at times that he struggled to find his game. In the end, it’s unfortunate that the Capitals lost out on a potentially younger starting goalie, but the results could’ve been worse with Kuemper.
On the same day the Capitals signed Kuemper, they also traded away a 2024 second-round pick to the Ottawa Senators to acquire a coveted forechecker in Connor Brown.
Related: Capitals: 3 Likely Free Agent Destinations for Connor Brown
Brown had proven to be a valuable depth player to a team that didn’t even make the playoffs in Ottawa. Just imagine what he could bring to a team that was consistently making the playoffs. Well, there is a lot of emphasis on the word ‘imagine’ in the last sentence as unfortunately, he wasn’t able to showcase his skills with the Capitals. He suited up in just four games before finding himself out for the rest of the season following an ACL surgery. Now, he is set to become an unrestricted free agent (UFA) and likely won’t re-sign with the team. In the end, the circumstances were disappointing for the Capitals, but it wasn’t anyone’s fault that this trade didn’t work out.
The Change in Direction
The first trade that marked the beginning of the team’s new direction came in late February when MacLellan traded Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to the Boston Bruins in a three-way trade which also included the Minnesota Wild. When all was said and done, the Capitals received the signing rights to Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) player Andrei Svetlakov (from the Wild) and Craig Smith accompanied by a haul of picks that included a 2023 first-round pick, a 2024 second-round pick, and a 2025 third-round pick, all of which were the Bruins’.
As big as this trade already was, it can be seen as a two-parter. A few days later, MacLellan used that same first-round pick, alongside Erik Gustafsson, to acquire young defenseman Rasmus Sandin from the Toronto Maple Leafs. These two trades were excellent for the Capitals, as they were able to ship out veteran players and receive many draft picks as well as a promising top-four defenseman in Sandin, who had a hot start with the team putting up three goals and 15 points in just 19 games.
In addition to these two big trades, Lars Eller was shipped away to the Colorado Avalanche for a 2025 second-round pick and Marcus Johansson was sent to the Wild for a 2024 third-round pick. These two players were both on expiring deals, so these were smart moves by MacLellan to make sure he didn’t lose them for nothing.
An Important Offseason
This offseason, the team has many important decisions to make and it’ll be interesting to see what direction the Capitals choose to go in. All of it starts with the player they will select tonight with the eighth overall pick.
