The Washington Capitals have been one of the most active teams in the NHL this summer, and they don’t plan to call it an offseason just yet.
Capitals general manager Chris Patrick met with the media after the club completed day two of the 2026 NHL Draft on Sunday. He gave an update on where the Caps sit heading into another hugely important week. Free agency officially opens on Wednesday, July 1, and despite already making two major additions via trade, Patrick made it clear that the Capitals are prepared to explore further roster tweaks if the right market opportunities present themselves.
“I think trade-wise is probably pretty quiet right now for us,” Patrick said. “I think we’ll go back now and continue our work on our list for people we might want to target in free agency, and get to work on July 1.
“I think we’re going to be looking in both the forward and the D market. We have lists of names on the board, and they’re going to be, I’m assuming, at various price levels, so we can just kind of see what fits what we have space for.”
Patrick and Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery have already been on the record about the team’s interest in addressing holes on the backend. The primary issue fueling that desire is that the Caps will be without rearguard Rasmus Sandin for the foreseeable future, as he was given a 6- to 9-month recovery timeline after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL in late April.
The Capitals also recently dealt depth defender Declan Chisholm to the New Jersey Devils.
“I don’t have a timeline (for Sandin),” Patrick said. “We’ll probably know more when he gets back in September. I know the surgery went really well. The initial few weeks after surgery were all really good, but you know, it’s six to nine months, there’s a lot of variability in that time frame, and everybody’s a little bit different, so we’ll just see where he’s at.”
Patrick’s primary target to join Washington’s defense corps will almost assuredly be right-handed, as Jakob Chychrun, Martin Fehervary, and Cole Hutson will already occupy the left side of the club’s defense. Currently, on the right side, the Capitals have just Matt Roy, Timothy Liljegren, and Dylan McIlrath under contract for next season.
The team’s confirmed interest in adding another forward is new and comes after ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reported at the draft that the Capitals could be a suitor in free agency for longtime Columbus Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner. While their top-six is now jam-packed with talent, the Caps are presently set to lose depth pieces up front like Brandon Duhaime, Sonny Milano, Brett Leason, and Henrik Rybinski in free agency.
Washington will head into July 1 with just over $14.3 million in cap space. Patrick revealed that the Capitals already know what captain Alex Ovechkin’s next contract will look like if he decides to return to the NHL for another season, so they will be aware of spending limitations in any negotiations.
