According to former Ottawa Senators defenseman Jason York, the Washington Capitals are interested in a move that would see Tom Wilson sent to the Sens.

York brought the rumor up on the Coming in Hot podcast that he co-hosts with former TSN broadcaster Brett Wallace.

Per York on the Coming in Hot podcast:

Your boy Tom Wilson, I’ll throw a rumor out there. I’m hearing the Capitals are interested in making a deal with the Senators. I’ve heard that. I’d love to see how Tom Wilson has bounced back from his surgery.

York played over 750 games in the NHL and his brother Jeff York recently just bought a chunk of the Senators in the team’s recent sale.

This news comes just a few weeks after it was also reported that the Los Angeles Kings were “kicking the tires” on Wilson. Hockey insider Elliotte Friedman threw cold water on that idea soon after, but it appears like the rumor is sticking around.

The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch picked up the podcast tidbit on his Twitter account.

Former #Sens D Jason York, speaking on a show he does Monday, with a local podcaster, said he's hearing the Washington Capitals would like to make a deal to send rugged winger Tom Wilson to Ottawa. If that's the case, he'd be a solid addition.

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) June 26, 2023

Wilson, 29, is about to enter the final year of his six-year contract. He underwent surgery on a torn ACL last summer and came back for 33 games during the 2022-23 regular season and recorded 22 points (13g, 9a).

When Friedman reportedly asked about the initial Kings trade rumor, he says he got a flat out denial from his source. “I got rejected,” Friedman said. “I was told it’s not happening. I was told the Capitals want to keep him and they consider him a big part of their future.”

That tracks with the popular thinking in DC and with what Wilson’s general manager Brian MacLellan said on Breakdown Day.

“I’d like Tom to finish up in Washington,” MacLellan said then. “He’s been a big part of our culture, our group. He’s consistently gotten better throughout the years. We’re going to do everything we can to sign him.

“He was one of our better players down the stretch,” MacLellan continued. “I really liked him and Strome together. I thought they were two players that played consistently well down the stretch when we weren’t as a team playing well.”

Wilson seems to have the same intentions as MacLellan. “I’m not a guy that’s going to play hardball and say that I don’t want to be here,” Wilson said during his own Breakdown Day media session. “Everyone knows I want to be here. No matter what happens, I want to help this city win games.”

However, MacLellan has also made it clear that his goal this summer is to upgrade the team’s top-six forward group and try to get younger while doing do. The Senators do have one trade piece in Alex DeBrincat that fits both of those criteria.

DeBrincat and the Senators don’t look like they’re headed down the extension route. DeBrincat has given the Sens a list of preferred trade destinations so that he will be more likely to sign an extension through the trade and maximize value going back to Ottawa. The Caps haven’t been reported to be on that list but Debrincat did expand the list to more teams in recent days.

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB