The Capitals Placed Devante Smith-Pelly on Waivers, a Sign that Changes Could Be Coming Before Trade Deadline

It was a strange practice on Wednesday morning in Toronto for the Washington Capitals. It started out with Dmitrij Jaskin not on the ice. Then things got strange for Devante Smith-Pelly.

Reports floated around that Jaskin would be placed on waivers, however, forward Devante Smith-Pelly then left the ice. It was later learned it would be Smith-Pelly, not Jaskin, heading to waivers.

The way waivers work is that 30 other teams have 24 hours to claim a player. If that player clears, he would get sent down to the minors.

In Smith-Pelly’s case, we will find out the moment of truth today at noon. He will either be a member of a new team or suit up for the Hershey Bears, Washington’s AHL affiliate.

I’m a little bit neutral with this move. The fan side of me is sad to see Smith-Pelly go. He was instrumental in the Capitals’ success towards the Stanley Cup last season.

When the Caps signed Smith-Pelly last summer to a league-minimum $650,000, many fans didn’t know who he was.

Fast forward to nine months later, a couple big goals in the Stanley Cup Finals, and Caps fans all around me in the streets of D.C. were chanting, “DSP! DSP! DSP!”.

Smith-Pelly scored seven goals and recorded an assist (eight points), during the Caps run to the Cup. In the Game 5 clincher, it was Smith-Pelly’s Bobby Orr’esque goal that tied the game and led to the win.

Smith-Pelly’s heroics led to him re-signing with the Capitals for a one-year, $1,000,000 deal. He may have gotten a better offer but it was clear he wanted to be back here.

This season that postseason performance didn’t carry over. Smith-Pelly has eight points (four goals, four assists) in 54 games.

Additonally, Smith-Pelly has been scratched from the Caps lineup on numerous occassions due to these inconsistences.

The brain side of me says this was a smart move if the Capitals were to aquire another forward before Monday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline.

According to CapFriendly.com, the Capitals have $978,720 in cap space currently. With Smith-Pelly on waivers, the Caps have $1,000,000 additional cap space.

That’s more financial wiggle room to facilitate a trade. It is likely they changed their mind with Jaskin becuase a team might be interested in acquiring him.

Wednesday night reports started floating around that the Capitals and Los Angeles Kings were in talks with a trade.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Freidman reported the Capitals are interested in working on a deal involving Carl Hagelin from the Kings. He talked on NHL Network, which you can view in the video below.

“There’s a lot of smoke around a Capitals-Kings deal, and Hagelin is the name I’m hearing the most,” said Freidman.

Hagelin may currently have two goals with the Kings since being traded from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Tanner Pearson in November, but the Capitals and their fans know him all too well.

The Caps have faced Carl Hagelin in the playoffs every postseason since 2011-12 when he played for the New York Rangers. The only exeption the 2013-14 campaign when the Caps missed the playoffs.

The Capitals can’t make a move until noon passes and we all know the fate of DSP. If the rumors are to be true, it will be weird seeing Hagelin don a Capitals red sweater.

One of the villains that contributed to second round hearbreak of playoffs past would become a player that us as fans would have to root for.

The good part about this though is he will bring a ton of experience. Hagelin has 47 career playoff points (22 goals, 25 assists). He also won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017.

Adding another expereinced vet to a team that now has expereince in acheiving the ultimate success would benefit the Capitals in their quest to do exaclty what those Pens teams did.

Then again, these are all rumors. We should know more later today. Stay tuned.