Top 3 Capitals takeaways after the NHL Trade Deadline
The Washington Capitals made just two moves on Trade Deadline day last Monday. Many NHL pundits predict they won’t go far based on the moves that they made. They’ll look to prove those doubters wrong by continuing the hot March into April.
The Caps already were cap strapped meaning they didn’t have much money to spend as is. Many of the veteran core is off limits as are future assets. The Caps didn’t go for any big names but went with two choices they feel will help out the forwards. Here are 3 takeaways from last week’s trade deadline.
#3 Not much was given up
The Caps didn’t give up any first rounders in this year’s trade deadline and their only significant loss was Daniel Sprong who is blossoming into a bigger role with the Seattle Kraken and has already broken out.
They also parted ways with a 2022 fourth rounder and a 2023 sixth rounder in the trade with the Kraken for Marcus Johansson. In the trade for Johan Larsson was a 2023 third rounder.
Again these losses aren’t too significant. And for those that argue that the Sprong move was costly hear this, he wasn’t going to get a bigger role with the Capitals. Not with the way head coach Peter Laviolette prefers to play veterans.
#2 Johan Larsson improves forward depth
The second move the Capitals made was trading a 2023 third round pick to the Arizona Coyotes for Johan Larsson. The Coyotes will retain 50 percent of his salary. Once he’s inserted into the lineup expect him to make an impact to the forward depth.
Larsson is coming off sports hernia surgery that kept him sidlelined for 19 Coyotes games. He’s in the final year of a two year contract with a cap hit of $1.4 million. He’s a 29 year old winger who has six goals and nine assists in 29 games this season. He also is a defensive minded forward which is what the Caps need for their fourth line.
They need it because Carl Hagelin is out with an eye injury. He has skated with the Capitals in a non contact jersey. Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan told the media this on his exception on when to see Larsson play:
“I would anticipate right around a week of team practice before he can play. And that could vary a little earlier, a little later.”
The Caps are off until Sunday which gives Larsson time to get ready in case he’s needed that night against the Minnesota Wild. We’ll see.
#1 Welcome back MoJo
The biggest move the Capitals made on NHL Trade Deadline day was bringing back Marcus Johansson. The Caps acquired him from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for Daniel Sprong, a 2022 fourth rounder, and a 2023 sixth rounder. The Kraken will retain 50 percent of Johansson’s $1.5 million cap hit.
The 31 year old played on multiple lines on the top nine and recorded six goals and 23 points in 51 games with the Kraken. With the Caps he spent time on the top line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin before dropping to the third line.
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Johansson is no stranger to the Caps, having spent seven seasons with the team from 2010-11 through 2016-17 before being traded to the New Jersey Devils in the summer of 2017. That was the summer before the Capitals won the Cup and now Johansson is back and determined to win one too.
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Johansson has also seen stops with the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres and Minnesota Wild and had struggled a few times to stay healthy. A lot of people wonder why the Caps traded a young forward for a player in their 30s. The answer is the Caps want to have a player that they could actually use and now they got one in MoJo.