Had a shortened version of this post in our Cheers & Jeers section earlier this week. Here are some expanded thoughts:
So the NHL trade deadline is just over three weeks away as general managers search for key additions to their hockey clubs. The Capitals are no different. A team that entered the regular season with no questions about its goal-scoring abilities now has plenty. A blueline with its share of critics in the past now appears stable and without serious holes. After watching 52 games Washington general manager George McPhee has a pretty good idea what his team is missing.
Deadline needs: How about a second or third-line center? Washington has been going with Marcus Johansson. 20, and Mathieu Perreault, 23, interchangeably. Both have had their moments, but a veteran playmaker would be a nice boost. They have enough cap space for a one-year rental so someone like Jason Arnott would make sense if New Jersey is willing to deal the 36-year-old. I’m guessing someone like Ottawa’s Mike Fisher, 30, would be too costly in dollars and term. He has one more year left on a five-year contract with an annual salary-cap hit of $4.2 million. Hard to judge players on bad teams fairly. But Fisher and Arnott both have 22 points. Fisher had 53 last season.
Washington added Scott Hannan to its defense corps in a November trade and also hopes Tom Poti (groin) is ready in the next two weeks. That’s a pretty solid, if unspectacular, blueline with John Erskine and Tyler Sloan providing needed depth. If there’s an elite player available you go after him. But with most NHL teams still in playoff contention is that realistic?
The Caps could always go after a veteran goalie if either Semyon Varlamov or Michal Neuvirth gets hurt again between now and the end of the month. Neither has been able to stay healthy for an extended period of time. Maybe someone like Florida’s Tomas Vokoun? Cap space might be tight there and it’s unlikely Washington breaks the bank for a rental. A guy like Dwayne Roloson would have worked. Unfortunately, Tampa Bay scooped him up and will unleash him on the Caps again tonight after a pair of shutouts last month.
Trade chips
So what exactly do the Caps have to deal? There’s not a ton left on the farm since Washington has promoted so many of its top young players in recent years. AHL Hershey now is mostly organizational guys or future third-and-fourth liners. Andrew Gordon has been impressive (21 goals, 23 assists in just 38 AHL games). But at 25 he’s a little old to be considered a top prospect. The one exception at Hershey, of course, is Braden Holtby, 21, who is at least in the conversation with Varlamov and Neuvirth as the organization’s goalie of the future and could be a key piece in a bigger package.
Farther down the list you have Cody Eakin, a center they love, winger Evgeny Kuznetsov and defenseman Dmitri Orlov. All three played great at World Juniors. Eakin, 19, was just traded from Swift Current to Kootenay. He’s a strong two-way player who had 47 G, 44 A last year and 23 G and 27 A this year in just 36 games. He was Caps’ 3rd round pick in 09. Ron Wilson actually singled out Kuznetsov as the most dynamic player at World Juniors. The 18-year-old Russian was Washington’s first-round pick in 2010 and has carried his strong World Juniors play back to the KHL the last month. Orlov, 19, was a steady d-man for Russia in that tournament. Both have another year left on their KHL deals though we could see them at Hershey next season. Those are the Caps’ guys with high ceilings. No one at Hershey right now has that kind of upside. Seems unlikely the Caps would move any of these kids for something less than an impact NHL player and even then it has to be salary-cap friendly.
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