On the Washington Capitals …
Rob Vollman of ESPN: Vollman think the Capitals should consider trading Alex Ovechkin to shake things up. Ovechkin will be 31-years old at the start of next season and his scoring could start to decline soon. His contract runs through 2021 with a $9.5 million cap hit.
The Capitals could look for blue-chip prosects and/or early first-round draft picks.
Vollman list the Winnipeg Jets as a team that can take the cap hit and have the prospects and picks to send back. The Jets have the second overall pick. The Jets were 20th in goals last year and traded their top left winger – Andrew Ladd – at the trade deadline.
Ovechkin has a limited no-trade clause where he lists 10 teams that he won’t accept a trade to. Several teams would be interested in him if he’s made available.
Chuck Gormley of CSN Mid Atltantic: Capitals GM Brian MacLellan on if they plan on re-signing their three pending RFAs – Marcus Johansson, Tom Wilson and Michael Latta.
“Yeah, I think we’ll take some time to evaluate. We’re going have to see how we want our bottom six to look going forward. Where do we want to add speed? Who’s going to PK? We’re going to have roles that we need to define and we’ll probably prioritize everything and I would assume they all come back as of now. There might be changes depending on what, you never know what comes up in the trade market. Names that come up that might fit what we’re trying to do.”
MacLellan on UFA Mike Richards.
“We’re going to talk to him. We’ll talk to him and his representative. It’s probably both ways. I’m happy with what Mike did. I think he added a lot to our locker room. He’s a great penalty killer, competitive guy. We really valued his experience.”