Washington Capitals won the trade between Matt Niskanen and Radko Gudas

The Washington Capitals made the right call trading Matt Niskanen to the Philadelphia Flyers for Radko Gudas. It’s not just salary cap reasons.

Before the Washington Capitals set foot on the ice for the 2019-20 season, their defense automatically looks better. This isn’t a shot on Matt Niskanen by no means necessary. The brutal part about sports is the business side of things and it was time to part ways with him due to his age and cap hit. But the big question is how will Radko Gudas fit in to the Capitals locker room and what could his role be?

Gudas led the Flyers with 202:06 minutes on the penalty kill and will be an upgrade for a unit that finished 24th in the league last season.

Additonally, the Gudas move gave the Capitals financial flexibility that they used to re-sign Jakub Vrana and Carl Hagelin as well as upgrade their bottom six forwards. That’s exactly what they did with the additions of Richard Panik, Garnet Hathaway and Brendan Leipsic.

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Niskanen carried a $5.75 million cap hit with two years left on his deal compared to Gudas’ $3.35 million that the Flyers will retain 30% of, giving the Capitals a younger defenseman for a bargain.

It’s a good deal like this that served the Capitals well this offseason thus far and could help them down the line as they embark on the complicated process of trying to extend the contracts of Nicklas Backstrom and Braden Holtby.

Among defensemen, Gudas finished fourth on the Flyers last season with a Corsi-For percentage of 49.56% and third in Fenwick For at 50.21% and second in expected-goals for percentage at 50.13%.

Matt Niskanen on the other hand finished eighth among Capitals defenseman in Corsi last season with a Corsi-For percentage of 47.15%. He additionally ranked at the bottom for a 46.67% Fenwick For percentage as well as the third-worst percentage among defensemen with a 45.39% expected goals for (via Natural Stat Trick).

Niskanen was a great player and even bigger leader and up until last season, he was one of the biggest leaders on the defense along with John Carlson and Brooks Orpik. That will be a tough hole to fill in the dressing room, but the Capitals made this move with the purpose of improving their backend.

They’ll get a Gritty player in Gudas, no pun intended to the hilarious Flyers mascot and someone who will work hard to make that blueline be a shutdown this season.