3 Capitals prospects who could be traded this offseason

There are several Washington Capitals players that could be available in the pipeline among potential suitors.

There’s Hendrix Lapierre but no need to worry about him. He’s untradeable and has a bright future with the team. But there are several names who could be up for being traded who have potential.

There are also several names that are entering free agency. You won’t see those names on this list. The names you will see have small cap hits from the AHL and have a few years left on their contract.

#3 Hunter Shepard

Among the goaltenders the most likely trade candidate would be Hunter Shepard. Pheonix Copley enters the summer as an unrestricted free agent. Clay Stevenson was just signed so I doubt he goes anywhere. Zach Fucale has been a stud in his NHL call ups. So I doubt he goes anywhere either.

Shepard is currently on the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL. In nine Hershey Bears games he’s 5-3-0 with a .922 save percentage and a 2.06 goals against average. In 18 games with the Stingrays, Shepard is 8-8-2 with a 2.86 goals against average and a .918 save percentage. He carries a cap hit of $750,000.

Who else among the Caps prospects could get moved?

#2 Dylan McIlrath

There’s a couple of intriguing names on defense. There’s Vincent Iorio who was drafted last year. Doubt he goes anywhere. Same with Alexander Alexeyev. Bobby Nardella is also a stud. Lucas Johansen will be a restricted free agent so who knows what happens there? As is Tobias Geisser.

That leaves us with Dylan McIlrath as the odd man out. He would have a cap hit of $750,000. Elite Prospects says this: “A large and physical defenseman. Positions himself men. Not a very good skater. He has a good shot from the blue line. Needs to improve his skating (Matias Strozyk).

In 61 games with the Hershey Bears, Dylan McIlrath has three goals and six assists for nine points. He also has 76 penalty minutes and has a plus minus of plus 12. For a while he has bounced around from team to team and even got a few looks in the NHL.

The Caps are well set on defense. He signed with the Caps last summer knowing he was highly unlikely to get NHL playing time. He has seen stops with the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings as well as their AHL teams the Hartford Wolf Pack and the Grand Rapids Griffins.