Daily Washington Capitals news and notes:
Your savory breakfast links:
- Elliotte Friedman’s special deadline episode of 32 Thoughts podcast is out, and he spoke at length about the Caps’ situation. You can listen to the full episode here (and there are plenty of people transcribing this roughly twoacross multiple blog posts, if that’s your thing)…but here’s the SparkNotes/CliffsNotes version:
- Brian MacLellan has made it clear to all pending UFAs that if he can’t sign them, he’ll try to trade them, and has made this known to fellow GMs as well
- Dmitry Orlov was moved because a deal wasn’t able to be made based on Orlov’s desired extension (believed to be around 7 years, Caps wanted 3-4)
- Both Nick Jensen (Toronto, Ottawa) and Lars Eller (Dallas, New Jersey) are drawing significant interest, although the team is still trying to sign both
- There is interest in Jakob Chychrun, but they have to decide whether it’s worth the price, i.e. packaging young prospects like Hendrix Lapierre/Connor McMichael to get him
- Now back to your regularly scheduled Clips!
- Digging into that last note about Chychrun and whether or not it makes sense for the Caps to make that trade. [NoVa Caps]
- The Caps are one of a handful of teams who will likely miss the playoffs but are looking to retool rather than rebuild. [THW]
- And why are they likely to miss the playoffs? In a word, inconsistency. The up-and-down nature of their trends shows that and then some. [NoVa Caps]
- Sending one final thank you to the two Caps-turned-Bruins. [S&S (Orlov, Hathaway)]
- A couple of former Washington alums talk about their upcoming transition, as GM David Poile prepares to step down as Nashville GM and hand the reins over to Barry Trotz. [AP]
- Finally, happy 55th birthday to Jeff Greenlaw, happy 65th to Jay Johnston, and happy 27th to Stanley Cup Champ Jakub Vrana!