On the Washington Capitals …
Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: The Capitals are in a win-now mode. They have 10 pending restricted and unrestricted free agents, including UFAs in T.J. Oshie, Justin Williams and Karl Alzner. The Capitals will likely be only able to re-sign one of them.
Unless they suffer an injury upfront, they seem content with their forwards leading up to the deadline.
Head coach Barry Trotz on the deadline.
“We get guys at the trade deadline every year, and it takes guys a while to assimilate to your team and your culture,” Capitals Coach Barry Trotz said. “It really became clear to me just looking at Lars Eller. We got him in the summer. We made that sort of trade in the summer, which we probably had done other years at the trade deadline. The first 20 games, probably he would say he wasn’t as good as he could be. Now, you watch him, and it’s totally different. So, maybe our trade deadline, we learned something from that. Maybe you don’t have to tinker as much because you can get stuff done in the summer.”
The Capitals could look for some help on the blueline at the deadline. They don’t have a lot of cap space to work with. At the deadline, they’ll be able add a player with a $1.7 million cap hit. They may not look for a top-four guy, but someone to add to their depth.
Tarik El-Bashir of CSN Mid Atlantic: Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said it’s up to GM Brian MacLellan and coach Barry Trotz to either make a trade at the deadline or not.
“We’ve told Barry and Mac it’s totally their call,” Leonsis said prior to Wednesday’s game against Boston, referring to Head Coach Barry Trotz and General Manager Brian MacLellan. “If they want to add to the team, they are free to do that. If they want to stand pat, they are free to do that.”
Leonsis notes on the chemistry the team seems to have and if you’d want to disrupt it.
“There does seem to be something very special in the chemistry of the team, so I know they’ll think long and hard about making a trade,” Leonsis said. “They feel good that the young kids are now starting to hit their stride. , two months ago, people were asking if he was in some sort of a slump. And now he’s just named player of the month.”
Leonsis adds that if they wanted to move a core play, they’d have to talk to him first.
“Obviously,” he added with a chuckle, “if they’re going to trade one of our core players, they would run it by me—I hope— beforehand.”
