Wednesday afternoon, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman released his latest 31 Thoughts column detailing all the major news and rumors around the league.

Earlier this week, Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan revealed that Washington was considering a trade to address the team’s depth at defense. The team has been dressing three players (Madison Bowey, Christian Djoos, and Aaron Ness) who were full-time players in Hershey last season. Friedman believes that MacLellan might find a good trade partner in George McPhee and the Vegas Golden Knights, who scratched three defensemen Tuesday night.

5. The trade market tends to be very slow at this time of the season, but I started to hear the name Sam Reinhart last weekend. Reinhart scored his first of the season Sunday, although it took an NHL review a day later to confirm it.

I don’t think it would surprise Sabres fans to hear this, but, after checking around, my sense is Buffalo doesn’t want to do anything rash. It’s a new regime, it’s been five games, and you want to make sure you really know what you’ve got unless something spectacular drops on you. Might be something to watch later in the year. Also with Buffalo, I get the sense people (not just the Sabres) want to see Alex Nylander play. He’s injured at AHL Rochester.

6. It’s no secret Washington is looking for defencemen. Everyone talks Vegas, but the Capitals and Golden Knights couldn’t make a Philipp Grubauer trade to protect Nate Schmidt in the expansion draft, so I don’t know how easy it will be. Vegas’s preference is to move from the left side. Tuesday’s three scratches all shoot that way — Jason Garrison, Brayden McNabb and Griffin Reinhart. Another lefty shot, Luca Sbisa, has four assists in six games.

While many Caps fans would welcome Nate Schmidt back with open arms, the part-man, part-emoji is likely not leaving his new team. Schmidt has a huge role on Vegas Golden Knights, leading the team in ice time through six games (21:16).

The Hockey News’ Matt Larkin also threw out several players the Capitals could go after including pending UFA Mike Green, Chris Tanev, and Niklas Hjalmarsson.