The Washington Capitals are running out of time if they want to trade for a star forward. Yesterday, the Ottawa Senators traded captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers for three first round picks and a second round pick. Tkachuk will join his brother Matthew in Miami, which was expected after the drama and rumors surrounding Brady during the Senators playoff run last season. Now that he’s off the market, Capitals general manager Chris Patrick will have a harder time finding the top-six forward the Caps have been trying to find since before last season.
Everyone knew the trade market was going to be supercharged this summer. After the NHL and NHLPA agreed to raise the salary cap from $88 millions in 2024-25 to $104 million this season. Those extra dollars allowed teams to resign their core players to long-term deals, decimating the 2026 free agent market. Teams looking to add are now looking to go the trade route, with Tkachuk and Darren Raddysh the first big dominos to fall. Now the cost for doing business just got a lot more expensive.
During the season, trading a pick and a prospect or NHL veteran player for a skilled forward seemed like a good deal. That fantasy disappeared yesterday after the Tkachuk trade, which set the market even higher for teams like the Capitals who are looking to deal. The Caps are loaded with draft picks, prospects and NHL players, like Connor McMicahel, that will be coveted by other teams. They will now have to part with more of their war chest if they truly want to acquire a top-six forward. That Tkachuk was traded for draft picks could be a good thing for Washington.
The Caps are loaded with draft picks. The have the 16th and 18th overall picks two first in this week’s draft. They have all of their draft picks in the next three drafts, as well as an extra 2027 second rounder and an extra third in 2029. If are looking to add a player like Dylan Larkin, Auston Matthews or Jordan Kyrou, the Caps will have to part with those two first rounders, a future first or two and possibly more. They could try an sign a restricted free agent, like Jason Robertson or Pavel Dorofyev, but at this point, teams with restricted free agents know they can get more right now via trade than they would by declining to match an offer sheet and taking the compensation.
As the draft slowly draws closer, the Caps will have to be aggressive if they want to make a trade. Chris Patrick traded John Carlson and Nic Dowd in order to gather the assets to use for this moment. Now, they will most likely have to pay more than they might have expected. It will be interesting to see who the next player to be trade will be, and if the Caps are involved in the deal.
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