Washington Capitals general manager Chris Patrick heads into his first-ever NHL trade deadline with the Caps firing on all cylinders.
After a very busy offseason, the Capitals have massively outperformed expectations and sit atop the NHL’s Eastern Conference standings by 10 points. They are on pace for 119 standings points coming into Thursday’s games.
Thursday, Patrick met with the media at Capital One Arena and discussed whether or not he’d add to his roster as the team heads toward another playoff appearance.
“Yeah, I think the team has obviously had a really good year so far,” the 49-year-old executive said. “We have a couple months here to go where we need to continue improving our game and getting to the next level. Obviously, when the playoffs start, everything ramps up. I think it’s going to be a balance of, are there ways to improve our team versus risking over-tinkering with what’s been a pretty good group so far this year. We’ll kind of evaluate all of the options and weigh it against what we currently have, and go from there.”
When pressed to get more specific, Patrick balked, saying, “You want me to tell you what we’re doing? I think anything’s on the table. Anything’s on the table, yeah.”
Washington retooled their roster during the past two deadlines, prioritizing draft picks and young players over veterans with expiring contracts. Patrick was asked if those priorities have shifted and if they’d be willing to part with valuable assets, like first-round draft picks, given their success this season. The Capitals have their first-round pick for the next three drafts and have two second-rounders in the 2025 event.
“I think we have to be open to anything,” Patrick said. “In general, over the trade deadline the last few years, you don’t see first-round picks moving as much. It’s more second-round picks. We’re open to do whatever if it’s going to improve the team, but we’re not going to do deals for the sake of making deals.
“I think you can look at picks two ways, and we’ve used them in both ways. One, they’re currency for transactions, and second, they’re a way to stock your shelves. I think we have a good amount of picks over the next three drafts, that if we wanted to use them to move, to transact, we can.”
Outside of losing their captain Alex Ovechkin to injury for 16 games earlier in the season, the Capitals have been relatively healthy to this point of the campaign. Sonny Milano, the only player on long-term injured reserve outside of TJ Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom, recently shed his no-contact jersey and is nearing a return to active duty.
The lack of holes on the club’s roster and in their everyday lineup means Patrick doesn’t see anything glaring he’ll want to address in the coming days. While the AHL’s Hershey Bears aren’t having the same dominant regular-season success they’ve had the past two seasons, they also still have plenty of players with prior NHL experience that could be called upon if needed.
“I think everybody is filling in their role pretty well,” Patrick said. “I think, in general, for the playoffs, you can always use more [defensemen], 10-12 [defensemen] in your organization. We’re at 11 right now, so not in a bad spot. I think our forward group up here has been really good.
“For me, I think it’s more about – we’re in February here, we’re in a great spot, but it’s February. So, we want to make sure we’re continuing to improve our game in March and April and then we all watched the 4 Nations, right? That’s playoff hockey, and that’s what we’ve got to be expecting come Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.”
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mused earlier this week his belief that the Capitals could be hesitant to add at the deadline due to the “magical chemistry” they’ve shown 58 games into the year. He specifically brought up the 2009-10 Capitals as an example of a team that maybe tinkered too much with their roster and suffered in the playoffs for it.
Patrick seems somewhat aligned with Friedman’s thinking, saying, “Chemistry factors into our decisions in every decision. We spend probably more time when we’re talking about signing a guy or trading for a guy about where they fit, who do they play with, what kind of special teams role do they have, what are they like in the room, what are they like off the ice. That’s kind of always a thing we’re concerned with, so just like any point in the year, it’s an important factor now.”
If the Capitals do make a move, multiple reports have come out in recent weeks saying that the team is in the market for a veteran bottom six forward. They have been mentioned specifcially as interested in names like Joel Armia, Scott Laughton, Nils Hoglander, Brandon Tanev, Trent Frederic, Jake Evans, Brock Nelson, and Yanni Gourde.
This year’s NHL trade deadline is on March 7 at 3 pm. Washington has a game later that night against the Detroit Red Wings.
