If Chris Patrick were a country at the Trade Deadline, he was Switzerland. If I were to grade the Washington Capitals’ moves, I’d give them a C.
Patrick ultimately did not fully commit to a strategy or weigh in on this year’s team, instead digging a hole only to fill it halfway up before the 3 pm deadline. The Capitals, as predicted by hockey insiders, were buyers and sellers at a time when the team is middling and without a major superstar on the horizon.
Patrick signaled through his trades that the team will try to remain competitive for the rest of this season despite getting worse at the deadline and having just a 15 percent chance of making the playoffs, per MoneyPuck. The moves also block the team’s prospects from getting development time in the NHL at the end of the season.
There’s no telling why the Capitals did this, but they seem destined to be worse positioned in the future because of it.
Grading the moves
Nic Dowd trade to Vegas
Details: Capitals trade Nic Dowd to the Vegas Golden Knights for minor-league goaltender Jesper Vikman, a 2027 third-round draft pick, and a 2029 second-round draft pick.
Analysis: Nic Dowd, 35, has one year remaining on a two-year contract extension he signed last season, paying him an average of $3 million annually. While a beloved veteran leader, Dowd did not fit a Capitals team that does not appear to be a Stanley Cup contender in the immediate future, and his presence on the roster was blocking several players from getting NHL ice time at center, including Justin Sourdif, Hendrix Lapierre, and Ilya Protas.
The return was decent for Dowd — second- and third-round picks — but they come years into the future. In the past, hockey insiders seemed to conclude that Dowd could potentially net a first-round pick, so the team missed out on that. Taking the goalie, Jesper Vikman, allowed Vegas to take on Dowd, since they were at a maximum of 50 contracts. The goaltending logjam also provided the Capitals with AHL depth to move Charlie Lindgren out and call up Clay Stevenson, who appears ready for NHL action. But they did not pull the trigger there.
Grade: B+
John Carlson trade to Anaheim
Details: Capitals trade John Carlson to the Anaheim Ducks for a conditional first-round pick in either the 2026 or 2027 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.
Analysis: Carlson, 36, is a pending unrestricted free agent who remains a first-pairing defender. Anaheim got a player who seems likely to help them make the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Capitals got a first-round pick, though unfortunately, it appears that selection will be in the late teens or early 20s of the round.
[Though, an aside: While the party line by NHL analysts is that the Capitals are great drafters, someone recently quizzed me to name the last star player the team has drafted in the opening round, who is contributing in a big way night in and night out on the team. I went back all the way to 2012 when the team drafted Tom Wilson (and Filip Forsberg, who they dealt to Nashville for the powerhouse that was Martin Erat).]
The return on Carlson — I would have assumed they could have gotten more, considering how good a player he is and the prices around the league — but I think CP did his best on a 36-year-old player on an expiring contract where his roots are in DC. And frankly, trading Carlson took massive cajones.
The only issue with the trade was when it was completed and how the team handled the communication about the deal, sending one of the best players in franchise history to Anaheim late at night while asleep without giving him advanced notice. It’s unclear what impact that could have if they want Carlson to return this summer, but it could have one.
Grade: A-
Capitals acquire Timothy Liljegren
Details: San Jose Sharks trade defenseman Timothy Liljegren to the Capitals for a fourth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Analysis: Liljegren was coached by then-assistant Spencer Carbery in Toronto and is a close friend of Rasmus Sandin’s, formerly making up a defense pairing with him there. Liljegren appears to be a bona fide top-four defenseman who plays a solid 200-foot game. The bad news is that Liljegren is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, so this could be just a pure rental, and they set ablaze the value of the fourth-round pick for 20 games of Liljegren.
Though this is perhaps a “try out” for a guy the Capitals were already interested in signing over the summer. Confusing, sure, but without a defenseman in Hershey ready to take the next step right now and the Bears lacking major depth on the backend ahead of a possible playoff run, I can see why they felt this was worth it.
Grade: B
Capitals acquire David Kampf
Details: Vancouver Canucks trade centerman David Kampf to the Capitals for a sixth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Analysis: Kampf, 31, is on an expiring $1.1 million contract. He will play in the fourth-line center role to end the season, but his presence blocks Hendrix Lapierre from playing center and a possible call-up of Ilya Protas, who has been ready for the NHL since late October. The price of a sixth-round pick is not much, but this deal only makes sense if there’s some type of long-term vision for Kampf.
Grade: C-
Acquiring a top-six winger with term
Analysis: Since last summer, the stated goal was to acquire a top-six star winger with term, who can score goals, skate, and help take the team into the future after Alex Ovechkin’s retirement. The team has been unable to do so, rendering any acquisition of players around the periphery a waste.
Grade: F-
One of the promises management made to Alex Ovechkin was to remain competitive while he was still on the team in his later years. And the only way to make sense of these moves, at least on my end, is that the team wants as graceful an ending as possible this season. Why? Well, it’s up to you to draw conclusions.
Beyond the half-in, half-out strategy, what I’m going to judge Patrick most on is the moves he didn’t make, some of which would have made sense both now and in the future.
Clay Stevenson seems to be an upgrade in goal now, and the team has two netminders at the AHL level — Garin Bjorklund and Mitch Gibson — who are ready to share the load there. Yet the Capitals did not trade Charlie Lindgren and his $3 million cap hit.
Brandon Duhaime is having a poor season, and there was reportedly interest in his services around the league. Bogdan Trineyev has appeared to be for the next step the last two seasons, yet Duhaime remains, and Trineyev stays in Hershey along with several other forwards that could do the job — and potentially better than Duhaime.
Trevor van Riemsdyk is on an expiring deal and is having a tough season. With prospect defenseman Cole Hutson potentially entering the fold in the coming weeks, there was room to jettison the veteran rearguard and get something back in return. That, too, did not happen.
Not fully committing to being sellers hurts the Capitals in two ways: 1) they do not get as many future assets back as possible, and 2) the team doesn’t give itself a chance to evaluate its prospects at the NHL level heading into next year. Then they added veteran players, which makes the team more competitive and thus likely hurts how high a draft pick they receive.
So in the end, I’m just left non-enthused as a fan. If the goal is to be a perennial playoff team and a Stanley Cup contender, there’s nothing here that makes me excited about the future. Already a challenging season, now getting to the end is going to feel that much longer.
