The Washington Capitals made two huge moves during one of the busiest news days of the NHL’s 2022-23 season.
The Caps announced two trades: Marcus Johansson to the Wild for a third-round pick and Erik Gustafsson and Boston’s 2023 first-round draft pick to the Leafs for young defenseman Rasmus Sandin.
The Sandin trade will have big ramifications for the Capitals moving forward.
Sandin is a 22-year-old, left-handed defenseman that was Toronto’s first-round draft selection in the 2018 draft. The smooth Swede was taken just two picks ahead of where the Caps selected Alex Alexeyev.
Now, Sandin joins Alexeyev on a Caps blueline that has two players under contract for next season. Sandin, who is signed through the 2023-24 season for $1.4 million per, joins 33-year-old first-pairing rearguard, John Carlson. Alexeyev and Martin Fehervary will likely join them as they are restricted free agents after this season. Sandin will be a restricted free agent himself when his deal expires after the 2023-24 season.
The trade leaves the Caps with an average age on their backend for next season of just over 25 before any further additions. Getting younger while still staying competitive is something that GM Brian MacLellan said the organization is striving for.
“This trade allows us to acquire draft capital, infuse youth and restock our system,” MacLellan said after the team dealt Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to the Bruins. “While this season has proven challenging with injuries to our significant players, we are in a position to use some of our current assets to retool our club and build a competitive team moving forward.”
MacLellan wasn’t lying. The first-round pick they received in that deal has already made its way to Toronto and Sandin provides that youth infusion in spades.
Rasmus Sandin, traded to WSH, is a young offensive puck-moving defenceman who has absolutely crushed third-pair minutes for the Leafs in the past two seasons. #AllCaps pic.twitter.com/kAQTWt0bqj
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) February 28, 2023
Sandin was bumped into a smaller role in Toronto as a third-pairing defenseman and eventually off the team entirely by older players as the Leafs are in win-now mode. Hence, why they targeted a 30-year-old, upcoming unrestricted free agent in Erik Gustafsson.
As reported by JFresh, the Leafs, over the past two years, have scored 58 percent of the goals and registered 58 percent of the expected goals with Sandin on the ice at five-on-five. Sandin achieved that while not receiving any sort of sheltering in terms of zone starts and seeing little ice time with Toronto’s elite forwards.
Sandin also comes cheaper than the more well-known option that the Caps were considering in Arizona’s Jakob Chychrun (though it’s unclear if Washington has stopped courting him). It’s been reported that the Coyotes are seeking multiple first-round picks and prospects for their star defender. Chychrun’s hit against the salary cap ($4.6 million) is more than three times what Sandin is making right now.
Sandin is also nine years younger than Dmitry Orlov, who reportedly was seeking a seven-year extension from the Caps at the age of 31. Orlov will likely earn a raise over his current $5.1 million cap hit in a new deal this summer. Instead, the Caps now have a much younger player heading into his prime that will in all likelihood be much cheaper to retain longterm when his current deal expires.
So, in short, the Capitals have quickly moved in the direction of one of their general manager’s main, stated goals. And in doing so, parted with what should be a first-round pick in the number 30s of the draft, kept their own first-round pick (that could be a very valuable lottery pick), and got value from Gustafsson who they signed out of obscurity this past offseason for just $800,000.
In this regard, job well done.
