Washington Capitals: Draft Day Trade Possibilities

Could the Washington Capitals seek a Draft day trade?

To fill an immediate need, in an effort of attempting to recapture Lord Stanley’s Cup? When a team like the Washington Capitals continues to compete on a high level their choices in the draft come consistently in the latter portion of the draft order.  For those that fail to achieve the goal of reaching or winning the Stanley Cup, it becomes increasingly more difficult to build for the present and future to fulfill that goal.

In 2011, the Washington Capitals took matters into their own hands to find what was missing for them achieving their goal of a championship.  The team traded their late first round pick, 26th overall, to the Chicago Blackhawks for Troy Brouwer to gain someone with the experience in competing for and winning the Stanley Cup.  This was during a draft where unless you were picking in the top ten you weren’t guaranteed to gain someone who could make a noticeable impact on the ice.

With the Washington Capitals up against the cap, two early playoff exits, and a potential closing of the championship window; now might be the time to again dangle their late first round draft pick this year in an effort to overcome a thin prospect pool and compete right away.  As it has been discussed the Capitals have one of the thinnest prospect pools in the NHL and have a few obvious needs to address.

Here are some potential targets that could fill an immediate need for the Washington Capitals.

Taylor Hall

Just a few days ago the Arizona Coyotes made the rights to Taylor Hall available for the highest bidder.  Could the Washington Capitals afford to part with the assets needed to make this work, and would he be here for more than one season?

The first obstacle for this to happen is the fact this is only for the rights to negotiate with Taylor Hall.  The Capitals would need to find a way to fit his salary amongst the mere $8.9 million in cap space while retaining a few players and adding a few others.

If Hall would be willing to hold up to his one year at a time mercenary style contract status he could take less on one year to have a good chance at the Stanley Cup.  It wouldn’t be far fetched to see the Capitals becoming a deeper scoring team with the addition of Hall, and would instantly take them to the top of the list for Eastern Conference representative in the finals.

However, this move would most likely require additional draft picks and more salary dumping to make this happen.  That would further the holes in their farm system, as well as open up other holes for the shallow prospect pool to attempt to fill.

Odds of trade happening: 10%

Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Hall’s rights isn’t the only asset the Coyotes have made available recently.  The team is also looking to move long time defenseman and captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson.  Could this be the shake up the Washington Capitals need to see for the defensive pairings?

The addition of Ekman-Larsson would bring onboard another offensive weapon to help bring back the power play of old.  This would give the Capitals a true quarterback for the second pairing or would increase the efficiency of the first pairing with both Carlson and Ekman-Larsson.

It would probably mean the departure of one of Dillon (UFA), Kempny, or Orlov.  Or it could mean the possibility of one of the aforementioned players or Larsson/Fehervary playing on their opposite hand.  The salary dump aspect would only make sense if the Coyotes agreed to take on a portion of the cap space, possibly the signing bonus of $4 million, which would leave about $4 million for the Capitals.

The trade package would most definitely take at least the 1st rounder with the potential of a prospect, a good match might be Lucas Johansen who the Capitals just signed to a team friendly deal to prove himself.  This could be a situation where a reset could help spur Johansen into his potential which made him a first rounder in 2016.

Odds of Trade Happening: 20%

Patrik Laine

Everyone can agree with very little argument that the Washington Capitals lacked secondary scoring the most in the recent playoff exit.  Their best option to fill that void might need to be done while taking advantage of a roster dump from another team.  With the Winnipeg Jets looking to give Patrik Laine a reset to his career as he hasn’t provided what they have needed as a once labeled Alex Ovechkin clone.  He might be able to give the Capitals what was missing the playoffs, and would be able to do so without being the guy.

This move would send a message and require a major roster shift to occur.  As Laine would most likely slot into the second line with Backstrom–Oshie which would bump Vrana down to the 3rd line. This could be the wake up call Vrana needs to give maximum effort while strengthening the scoring potential of the bottom six.

Just with the above other possibilities this would most likely stand as a one year rental, unless the Capitals chose to replace Vrana with Laine at the end of the year.  But would also signal to the rest of the NHL that they mean business and want to push their chances aggressively.

The package would most likely cost a prospect to go with the 1st rounder and some salary shift.  That could happen with the trade of Dmitry Orlov and the permanent promotion of Fehervary.

Odds of Trade Happening: 20%