On the Washington Capitals …
- Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: The Capitals are unlikely to make a significant move at the deadline, but could make a depth move. They will have two extra forwards when Jay Beagle returns – he will start practicing this week.The Capitals will likely look to add depth on the blueline. Brooks Orpik has missed 40 games and could be back in the lineup tonight. The Capitals will need to make a roster move when Orpik returns, and are hesitant to put Stanislav Galiev or Taylor Chorney on waivers in fear of losing them.
When Orpik is activated off the LTIR, the Capitals will have about $1.15 million in cap space at the deadline. Fitting in Dan Hamhuis’s $4.5 million cap would be hard to do. Mike Weber and his $1.66 million cap hit from Buffalo may be a better fit. Roman Polak at a $2.75 million cap hit is another option.
“Maybe we don’t need to go and do a whole lot come trade deadline,” Trotz said. “Maybe it’s just a tweak. Maybe we don’t do anything based on that. You find a lot about people and your team when it’s going through injuries, even tough stretches when you’re not playing very well. I think we’ve gone through a lot of the tough times in that area.”
On the Minnesota Wild …
- Michael Russo of the Star Tribune: The Wild haven’t been able to make a trade and let go Mike Yeo over the weekend.
“It’s difficult to make trades. And I’ll also suggest that adding one player may or may not have sparked us, but right now we have a lot of guys that aren’t playing to their potential,” Fletcher said. “We need a lot more from the group we have.”
Wild owner Craig Leopold hasn’t indicated that GM Chuck Fletcher’s job is in jeopardy.
“We’re all on the clock,” Fletcher said. “As soon as I took the job , you’re on the clock. I don’t worry about my job. I’ll hold myself completely accountable. But this is about getting our team back and becoming a good hockey team.
“There’s plenty of time to right this. This story isn’t finished being written yet. I think we have an opportunity to make it better, and we’ll learn a lot more about the team in the next 27 games.”
