Saturday, the Washington Capitals made two significant moves, both with an eye towards the Stanley Cup playoffs. Hunky piece of man meat (and longest tenured DC athlete) Brooks Laich was put on waivers, a transaction designed to give general manager Brian MacLelllan roster and cap flexibility ahead of Monday’s trade deadline. The Capitals also announced that defenseman John Carlson had undergone a procedure on a nagging injury and will be lost for three to four weeks. As of this posting on Saturday night, Carlson is on injured reserve, but if he’s placed on the long-term IR, it would take his salary cap hit of nearly $4 million off the books (according to the Washington Post).

Saturday night, Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Caps have entered the D market due to Carlson’s injury. He elaborated during his Saturday Headlines feature on Hockey Night In Canada.

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“Watch Washington,” Friedman said. “Now with John Carlson on injured reserve, that opens up the room for them to enter the market. Hamhuis has been linked to Boston and Dallas – potentially there too. And also it’s believed Washington is looking a little bit at Kris Russell. They’re going to have the flexibility to do some things.”

Dan Hamhuis, a steady, top-four defenseman, is in the final year of a six-year, $27 million contract ($4.5 million cap hit) with the Vancouver Canucks.

Here’s his Hero chat, via Own The Puck.

The Canucks are currently eight points out of the final wildcard spot in the West. Friday, the 33-year-old defenseman was rumored to be close to being dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks. According to The Province, that hit a road block potentially because Hamhuis waffled on waiving his no-trade clause.

Earlier in the month, The Province’s Ben Kuzma spoke to Vancouver 1040 radio about Hamhuis, who he believes is “cut from a little bit of a different cloth.” He thinks it’s possible Hamhuis could take the same route of Antoine Vermette, who was traded by the Coyotes to the Blackhawks, won a Stanley Cup, and then later re-signed with Arizona in the offseason.

“I understand with a no-trade clause it’s going to have to be a team that he wants to go to” Kuzma said. “Barry Trotz – [he and Hamuis] basically grew up together. I mean, he would go there in a heartbeat and play with them. Have a great run and then in the offseason, you could re-sign him in [Vancouver] for something reasonable.”

Meanwhile, Kris Russell is a 28-year-old defenseman for the Calgary Flames. He gets a ton of playing time, but is a much less productive player. He also does not play physically.

Per his Hero Chart:

According to TSN analyst Darren Dreger, the Flames told Russell that he is likely to be traded. Dreger also noted that the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins are two of the front-runners. He is also dealing with a lower body/groin injury per the Calgary Herald.

The NHL Network’s Brian Lawton also mentioned the Caps are looking at Hurricanes’ defenseman John-Michael Liles and the Wild’s Jonas Brodin.

It’s not entirely clear why the Caps would enter the defense market after already trading for depth defenseman Mike Weber earlier in the week. According to WNST’s Ed Frankovic, Carlson would be back in plenty of time if he misses the maximum of four weeks.

If John Carlson out for the full 4 weeks, he'd miss 14 games. So he'd have 8 games to get ready for playoffs, but 2 back-to-backs, so 6 gms?

— Ed Frankovic (@EdFrankovic) February 28, 2016

On top of that, the Caps have given up the least amount of goals in the league (139). Suffice to say, the next day or two should be very interesting.

Update: Elliotte Friedman tweeted us a few more of his thoughts about Washington heading into the deadline.

@russianmachine Carlson injury gives them flexibility. Will see what happens with Laich too

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 28, 2016

@russianmachine I think WASH is going to be very interesting. Might go for a forward instead.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 28, 2016