Washington Capitals Rumors: Alexander Radulov

There are rumors that Russian forward Alexander Radulov would be interested in an NHL comeback with several teams, including the Washington Capitals.

The Washington Capitals have made several major splashes through free agency and the trade market under General Manager Brian MacLellan since he took control in the summer of 2014. Could we see more of the same this summer with one particular player?

For weeks, if not months, there has been speculation that skilled Russian forward and Kontinental Hockey League star Alexander Radulov could be looking to jump over the pond back to North America. The 29-year-old forward spent parts of three seasons with the Nashville Predators from 2006-2008, and also made a very brief return in 2012 which did not end spectacularly. Ironically enough, his only time in the NHL was spent under current Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz. Now, Radulov is now an unrestricted free agent, and able to sign with any team.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Radulov is currently in New York pondering his future in the NHL after spending his last four seasons with CSKA Moscow of the KHL. Friedman also claims that the Washington Capitals are one of several team that Radulov is considering.

One of Friedman’s later tweets indicated that Washington would likely not be a destination for him, but another Russian sports writer, Slava Malamud, reiterated that Washington was somewhere that Radulov would want to play.

I am pretty much in agreement here that a Radulov reunion with Barry Trotz is extremely unlikely. After all, Washington is often linked with Russian players due to the large Russian contingent of their own.

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There is no denying Radulov’s talent. He has 102 points in 154 career NHL games, many of which came before he really entered his prime years. He has often been considered one of, if not the best, players in the world outside of the NHL.

While it doesn’t appear that Trotz and Radulov had the best relationship, Radulov did get something from his former coach. When Trotz was hired by the Washington Capitals, Radulov was asked what he would say to Alex Ovechkin about playing under Trotz. Given Radulov’s questionable history, this could have led to a firestorm in many ways.

However, Radulov had nothing but good things to say about his former coach. According to Radulov, he “became a hockey player” under Trotz.

At the end of the day, there are several reasons why Radulov probably won’t end up in Washington. The first being that it is unlikely that the Washington Capitals would be willing to gamble the big money that Radulov will likely want on somebody with a questionable past. They will likely bring back most of the players from this year’s team next season, so it will be a very tight group that doesn’t need any potential distractions.

The Caps went through this same scenario (minus the big money) when they signed Mike Richards mid-season. The team made it clear that they had done their due diligence on Richards, and there have been no problems so far. So it wouldn’t be an unprecedented move in some respects.

There also might just not be room on this roster next season for Radulov. The Washington Capitals ran with the same group of top-six forwards for much of the year, and signing Radulov would probably not allow Andre Burakovsky to play the top-six minutes that he needs. I highly doubt that whoever pays Radulov will be paying him to play on the third line for their team.

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There are a lot of things going against a potential Trotz-Radulov reunion this offseason. However, if Brian MacLellan thinks that Radulov would add something to this team next year, he likely won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.