Well, the NHL offseason has just begun and one Washington Capitals rumor has already been answered.
The Washington Capitals and General Manager Brian MacLellan announced on Friday morning that they traded established defenseman Matt Niskanen for Radko Gudas of the Philadelphia Flyers. Niskanen has been a longtime defenseman on the Capitals roster and spent five seasons with the team and helped fix up a defense that was struggling.
For the most part, Niskanen carried a blue collar mentality on the ice and always gave an honest assessment in the postgame interviews. He wasn’t a scorer but was doing all the right things, winning puck battles, the board battles, and was lethal on the penalty kill. The problem last season however, was age. When you’re 32 in the NHL the days start to get numbered before retirement.
Niskanen had one more left on his contract and carried a cap hit of $5.75 million. The move was more on the business/financial side. This salary-dump move saves the Capitals $3.405 million and now their overall projected cap space is $12,480,706 via Cap Friendly.
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Breathe easy Capitals fans. Yes having a Metropolitan Division rival you used to root against on your own team is a tough adjustment for sports fans everywhere, but look how Carl Hagelin turned out to be.
First and foremost, Gudas could help improve a penalty kill that tanked coming off a euphoric Stanley Cup season. He was second on the Flyers with 202:06 penalty kill minutes. On the offensive side, Gudas scored four goals and 16 assists (20 points) in 77 games.
Gudas was drafted in the third round, 66th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning and spent three seasons there before being traded midseason to the Flyers in the 2014-15 campaign.
The $3.405 million deal is also savings worthy with the Flyers retaining 30% of Gudas cap hit. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him partnering up with Dmitry Orlov on the second pair this upcoming season.
This move also goes hand in hand with a report from Pierre LeBrun about an hour later that the team is trying to re-sign Carl Hagelin and they rightfully should.
Caps are still trying to re-sign trade deadline pickup and pending UFA Carl Hagelin so yet another reason for the cap space clearing. They've got a bunch of expiring deals. Needed more flexibility
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 14, 2019
“We feel this move provides us with financial flexibility as we look for additional ways to strengthen our team. In addition, we are pleased to welcome Radko to our organization. Radko is a good defensive defenseman that plays a competitive, physical game,” said MacLellan in the Capitals press release.
Radko, welcome to Washington. As for Niskanen, thank you for all you’ve done for the Capitals and for being an instrumental part in the 2018 Stanley Cup run.