Top Capitals players to be traded this offseason

The Washington Capitals made a couple of moves to their forwards at this year’s trade deadline. There will be no more trades left this summer so who could be on the move?

Let’s start with the goaltenders. Don’t expect either Vitek Vanecek or Ilya Samsonov to be moved as they’re both restricted free agents. That only means a tough decision comes this summer for General Manager Brian MacLellan.

Now let’s look at the defenseman. John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov are basically untradeable. And I wouldn’t move Nick Jensen or Martin Fehervary. The rest of the names I didn’t mention are free agents.

Which leaves us to the forwards. One player I could see potentially getting moved is Lars Eller. He is having a down season, which isn’t really his fault as he also battled COVID twice, and he carries a cap hit of $3.5 million.

In 58 games this season Eller has nine goals and 14 assists for 23 points. He is a -7 while averaging 16:22 minutes of ice time. His Corsi For percentage is at 48.90 percent, his Expected Goals For percentage is at 48.44 percent while his High Danger Chances For is at 47.10 percent according to Natural Stat Trick.

Another player I could potentially see get moved while the rest are deemed untraceable is Conor Sheary. He carries a cap hit of $1.5 million. The Caps could potentially get a good young forward in the deal.

Sheary is having a good season with 16 goals and 18 assists for 34 points while averaging 15:30 minutes of ice time. He also has some good advanced stats. His Corsi For percentage is at 50.29 percent, his Expected Goals For percentage is at 50.85 percent, and his High Danger Chances For percentage is at 50.75.

Sheary would be the more attractive trade target among other teams out of the two but Eller cold also use a fresh start as well. And he’s one of the best third line centers in the NHL if not the best. And he’ll always be remembered in Washington for that Game 5 Stanley Cup winning goal.

No matter what the Caps do though, we’re still a ways from that. Hopefully we’ll be talking more trades after a Cup. But if they struggle it could come sooner.