The 2022 NHL Trade Deadline is in the books and the Washington Capitals made just two moves. Both are, what they’re hoping, upgrades to the forward corps. On the defense side everything stays the same. On the goaltending front, they’re running it back with Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov.
The first move the Capitals made was to reunite with Marcus Johansson. In the deal, they parted ways with Daniel Sprong, a 2022 fourth round pick, and a 2023 sixth round pick. The 31 year old recorded 23 points with six goals and 17 assists in 51 games with the Seattle Kraken.
Johansson was a 2009 first round draft pick at 24th overall. He played with the Capitals from 2010-2017 recording 290 points with 102 goals and 188 assists in 501 games. He marked his return to the Capital One Arena ice (well okay it was called Verizon Center when he was there), in last night’s loss to the St. Louis Blues, playing on the top line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin. He also was on the second power play unit.
welcome home pic.twitter.com/fiaionBXFH
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 22, 2022
Johansson played a total of 17:56 minutes and 21 shifts in his first game back with the Caps. He was a -1 and got one shot off. There was no other team he would’ve rather went to which is a testament to the Capitals organization as a whole.
He told reporters after Tuesday’s morning skate:
"“This is the one place I wanted to go. We were here a few weeks ago (early March with the Kraken) and coming here always still feels like home. I’m just very excited for the opportunity. This feels special.”"
The second and final move the Capitals made was acquiring Johan Larsson who is a versatile forward that can play defense. He’s from the Arizona Coyotes and the Caps sent them a 2023 third rounder.
He’s recovering from sports hernia surgery but practiced with the team in a dark blue non contact sweater on Wednesday. He should be back in game action next week, we shall see.
Hear from Johan Larsson after his first skate with the Caps since being acquired at the deadline.#ALLCAPS | @MedStarHealth pic.twitter.com/Ppx6DgVNyp
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 23, 2022
In 29 games, Larsson has scored six goals and nine assists for 15 points. Expect him to be Carl Hagelin’s replacement on the fourth line when healthy.
Trade deadline grade for the Capitals… C: The Caps had a pretty average deadline but they did what they needed to do to upgrade the forward corps without necessarily hitting a home run. Time will tell if these trades will work out or if we’ll see another first round exit.