We still have a lot of hockey to be played in the NHL this season. There is still about half of the regular season to go. Then we have nearly two months of playoff hockey until we start handing out the awards.
That being said, we are now in the second half of the season. The more you look and the more you start listening or watching NHL shows, the more you're starting to hear people name their "favorites" for awards.
I've heard Connor Hellebuyck's name get thrown out for the Vezina Trophy again. Lane Hutson is making a charge towards the Calder Trophy, in what I think could be a very fun award to watch this year. I was watching the Vancouver Canucks pre game vs the Washington Capitals, they mentioned Spencer Carbery should be among the favorites to win the Jack Adams award.
Carbery shouldn't be the only Washington Capital to get some award recognition either. The guy above him, the guy who puts the team together that Carbery coaches should get plenty of attention when the time comes. That guy, as we all know here, is Brian MacLellan.
MacLellan and his team have done an absolutely tremendous, insane job in Washington. I don't want to take away what others have done. But when you look around the NHL and the teams that are doing well, who would deserve the award for best GM over MacLellan?
Toronto is a good team, but they have been good for years. They haven't needed to make hardly any big changes to get where they are this season. Vegas is also having a very good year. But they won the Stanley Cup in 2023 and were still very good last season. You also have the teams that are trying to take that next step and get into the playoffs after some rebuilds. Teams like Ottawa, Montreal, Columbus, maybe another or two. But none of these teams are having a ton of success.
The turnaround that MacLellan and his team has done is incredible in my opinion. This is a Capitals team that missed the playoffs two seasons ago. They then barely get into the playoffs the next season. You could legitimately say the only reason they made the playoffs last season was because both the Red Wings and Flyers collapsed towards the end of the season. They get in the playoff then promptly got booted by the Rangers in four games.
This was a Capitals team that was going nowhere, pretty quickly. This was a team that basically everyone knew needed a rebuild and needed it very soon.
MacLellan, at least in my mind, said "LOL, here is your rebuild you idiots!" and went on and did some of, if not the best moves in the entire offseason and turned his very average NHL team into a contending team.
This past offseason Washington added three key players to their team. How often do you see that? Not only does that not often happen, they happened this time via trade, and none of the trades really cost the team that much.
The first to come the D.C. was Pierre-Luc Dubois. All he cost was a struggling goaltender in Darcy Kuemper. It looks like Kuemper is having a nice rebound season in Los Angeles, which is good to see. But it wasn't working in Washington. Dubois has been fantastic for the Capitals. A rock solid second line center.
The Capitals traded away a goaltender, they probably needed an NHL goalie to backup or share time with Charlie Lindgren. MacLellan then answers that problem by trading for Logan Thompson. All it took to get Thompson from Vegas was two third round picks. In the 21 games he's played with the Caps he is 17-2-2 with a 2.32 GAA and a .919 save percentage. Not only did he go get a goalie, he went and got his starting goalie. At least in my opinion.
Then on the opening day of free agency MacLellan makes another big trade and acquires Jakob Chychrun from the Ottawa Senators. In order to get Chychrun, all the Caps had to do was part with Nick Jensen and a third round pick in 2026. Jensen was good for Washington, but he was 33-years-old, now 34. Draft picks are no guarantees, especially third rounders. The Caps got a very good defenseman who is 26-years-old.
He's had a terrific season in Washington. He is on the final year of his contract. We'll see if he re-signs with the Capitals. If we're talking about this season, this was another incredible deal for the Caps.
MacLellan also signed Matt Roy on the opening day of free agency. Roy was one of the bigger names, especially on defense in the free agency class. Not an incredibly flashy player, but a heck of a move nonetheless.
Something that needs to be pointed out here. Brian MacLellan is not the General Manager of the Washington Capitals. That title is currently held by Chris Patrick.
However, all of the moves we talked about here today were made when he was the GM of the team. Patrick took over as GM on the 8th of July. The Dubois trade was June 19th. The Thompson trade was the 29th. Chychrun was traded on the 1st and Roy was signed on the first.
MacLellan was also the GM when they signed Brandon Duhaime and Taylor Raddysh on July 1st. Two guys who have done well in their depth roles.
This Capitals team was built by Brian MacLellan. Like we said earlier, this was an average team, at best. It was an aging team, a pretty beat up team losing older guys like Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie to injuries.
It looked like a rebuild was coming and necessary. It looked like it was time for the young players, and if they wanted to be a good team those young guys would have to be really good.
Well, the young guys have gotten to play, and have been really good. But maybe the biggest reason they have been so good is because then General Manager MacLellan gave those young players very good, prime aged players for them to play with.
Connor McMichael has had a very good season. He has basically played this entire season alongside Dubois. Protas has had a very good year. But instead of needing to play by himself, or try to carry his own line, he's been with Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin a lot.
This is just simply a really good team. There are not a ton of weaknesses. They're good and fairly deep offensively. They have good defensemen who can also score thanks to Carlson and Chychrun. They have good goalies with one playing very well in Thompson. And they have good special teams. What more could you ask for?
Well, the last couple of years the Capitals were asking for a lot. And this past off-season Brian MacLellan gave them everthing they wanted. As a result this Capitals team has jumped back up towards the top of the NHL standings.
He may not be the GM anymore. But MacLellan still deserves recognition for the General Manager of the year award.