ARLINGTON, VA — The Washington Capitals made a big splash to start the trade deadline, sending Evgeny Kuznetsov to the Carolina Hurricanes for a third-round pick. At the time, the move seemed like it could be the first of many: Nic Dowd, Charlie Lindgren, and Max Pacioretty all reportedly garnered interest ahead of the deadline, while general manager Brian MacLellan had suggested the team hoped to add another young player after trading for Rasmus Sandin last spring.
But as 3 pm came and went, the Kuznetsov trade would prove Washington’s only move on deadline day: they ended the afternoon with several trade targets still on the team and without adding a player. MacLellan offered his perspective on the lack of deals Friday afternoon.
“We tried a couple,” he said. “We identified a couple players, a couple of young guys that we liked and we tried to be aggressive on our offers for them and it just didn’t materialize.”
When it came to the possibility of further selling, however, MacLellan offered a more measured response.
“We didn’t actively look to move the players,” he said.
The Capitals have seen their fortunes change in recent weeks, with a record of 6-3-1 in their last 10 games. The team seems to have found its footing and they currently sit five points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for a wild-card spot. While any last-minute push could still prove too little, too late—HockeyViz gives the Caps just a 19.6% chance to make the playoffs—MacLellan expressed reluctance to dismantle his roster.
“We listened to some inquires on them and if something made sense, we might have considered it more,” he said. “I think our goal was to do the things we had to do on the trades and try to keep our team together as much as we could.”
While the day ultimately proved quiet once Kuznetsov left for Raleigh, MacLellan did confirm that teams reached out about other players, though he did not offer specifics.
“I think we have good players,” he said. “There are a lot of inquiries about our guys because teams like them and they’re valuable guys.”
The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported Friday evening that several playoff teams had specifically expressed interest in pending UFA Max Pacioretty, but he declined to waive his no-move clause.
Sounds like Pacioretty turned down multiple playoff-bound teams via his no-move clause, wanted to stay close to family and finish what he started this season in Washington coming off the Achilles tears. #allcaps were more than happy with that. https://t.co/7TRaWTPjGo
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 8, 2024
Washington did make a couple of trades in the days leading up to the deadline, dealing Anthony Mantha and Joel Edmundson to the Vegas Golden Knights and Toronto Maple Leafs, respectively. Those moves marked the second straight season MacLellan has sold at the deadline. The 2023 deadline preceded a truly awful stretch of games: the Caps went 5-10-4 to end that campaign. This time around, MacLellan was more optimistic about how his team would fare.
“I think it feels different,” he said. “Lapierre is playing better, McMichael is playing better, Sandin is established and now we’ll have Alexeyev in. I think we have more than a few young guys and I think we’re growing that part of it. So, I think the situation is different.”
Besides his desire to hold onto valuable players down the stretch and Pacioretty’s no-move clause, poor potential returns influenced MacLellan’s decisions. Only four teams traded a first-round pick in the week of the deadline and several of those picks came with future conditions. MacLellan noted that many potential buyers lacked the assets they would need for a trade.
“It didn’t seem like the market was there for first-rounders, just in general,” he said. “I think a lot of the contending teams were the same teams last year, too, that spent a lot of draft capital and prospects. The way we analyzed it was it was going to be tough to get full value on players because you weren’t having as many bidders as you might normally would if everybody had all their draft picks still.”
With Dowd, Lindgren, and Pacioretty still on the roster, all eyes now return to the remaining 21 games of the Capitals’ season. Like many of his players, MacLellan still has faith in a playoff run.
“I think we’re still competing. And I know the math doesn’t support it, but if somebody falters in front of us and we keep winning, I wouldn’t rule it out.”
