The league-leading Washington Capitals are reportedly looking to bring in another top-nine forward ahead of the NHL’s March 7 trade deadline. They’ve been linked with several potentially available options, including Seattle’s Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev as well as New York’s Brock Nelson.
The newest name Washington is rumored to be interested in is Montreal Canadiens forward Jake Evans. Per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Capitals are believed to have had past negotiations with the Canadiens for Evans, and their interest could persist through this season’s deadline.
Believe the Caps were the team that tried to acquire Evans last summer at the Draft in exchange for a second-round pick, and that makes some sense. They’ve tried to fill that 3C role this year with Lars Eller, but Evans would be a better fit.
Evans has played six seasons with the Canadiens since they drafted him in the seventh round of the 2014 NHL Draft. The 28-year-old center played with Notre Dame in the NCAA for four years before signing with the Canadiens in 2018. He is in the final year of a three-year, $5.1 million contract extension ($1.7M AAV), which he signed with Montreal in 2021.
The Canadiens may be waiting a bit longer to see if they will be sellers at this year’s deadline. They currently sit just two points out of the second wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Head coach Martin St. Louis has the Habs with a 24-21-5 record through 50 games, a significant improvement over the 30-36-16 record that saw them finish 28th in the NHL last season.
Evans could be in high demand as a bottom-six center who plays a playoff-style, defensive game. He has 25 points (11g, 14a) in 50 games this season and is Montreal’s top penalty-killing forward, averaging a staggering 3:03 of shorthanded time on ice per game. He leads all NHL forwards in shorthanded ice time this season by over 17 minutes.
The Toronto native has also been deadly while killing penalties this year, scoring three shorthanded goals. He is one of only four skaters to score three times down a man this season.
Evans was a teammate of Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren in the Canadiens organization. He also played two seasons in Montreal with current Capitals assistant coach Kirk Muller serving as an associate coach.
Washington has both Nic Dowd and Lars Eller set for unrestricted free agency next summer. The Capitals tried to have Hendrix Lapierre take one of the bottom-six center positions this season but he ultimately struggled and was sent down to the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
