Breaking down all potential trade targets of Capitals

It’s the dog days of summer. Most of the city is still in La La land from the local football team’s sale. Washington Capitals fans meanwhile are waiting for something, anything to improve the top six.

I’ve been doing these exercises for a while. The last one I did I got ratio’d by Colorado Avalanche fans which was fun. So I’ll try this again with multiple names.

Evgeny Kuznetsov and Anthony Mantha could certainly be the ones on the table as far as trade talks go. Both had underwhelming seasons while Kuznetsov indeed requested a trade. There’s untouchables like Alex Ovechkin who isn’t going anywhere.

So who is out there in the NHL worth shopping for? These are the names to keep an eye on as it’s only a matter of time.

William Nylander: I should’ve picked this guy the other day instead. Oh well. This would be the home run Brian MacLellan is looking for. The son of former Caps legend Michael Nylander, William had 40 goals and 47 assists for 87 points. That’s 12 points more than Alex Ovechkin but of course Ovi had more goals.

Elias Lindholm: A good Evgeny Kuznetsov swap could be with the Calgary Flames in return for Elias Lindholm. He had 22 goals and 42 assists for 64 points. At the season ending pressers, he didn’t exactly commit that he was going to stay on the Flames. Their GM also wants to avoid another Johnny Gaudreau situation.

Kevin Labanc: The San Jose Sharks thought about swapping him earlier this offseason with the Vancouver Canucks but it fell through. He’s 27 still four years from the best season but he still had 15 goals and could be a cheap option.

These are the three I think could wind up in a Capitals uniform. It’s up to MacLellan to do the research and work the phones.