Capitals go with house money as trade deadline ends

Overall I thought the Washington Capitals did good at the trade deadline despite losing Evgeny Kuznetsov and Anthony Mantha to two big contenders. Joel Edmundson also ends up on the Maple Leafs. What the postive was is that Brian MacLellan re upped on Rasmus Sandin, a bright young defenseman who hasn't even found his ceiling yet but is about to.

Either way it's a five year extension just north of four million. And the Caps also loaded on draft picks to jump speed the post Ovechkin era whether it's in Washington or Alexandria but that's a talk for another day.

Kuznetsov entered waivres over the weekend which just so happened to unfortunately be the biggest story around town. But Kuznetsov going to the Canes is what stings the most.

The Caps have a good young defensive core plus veterans in John Carlson and Nick Jensen. A healthy Martin Fehervary is effective. Ethan Bear was a big addition. Max Pacioretty is still sticking around.

Overall though I thought this was a decent deadline and here is why. The draft picks have proven to be gems and the talent does get better. The Caps will have a total of 26 draft selections over the course of the next three years which was tied for the fourth most as of this morning per Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network.

The Capitals also traded Joel Edmundson to the Toronto Maple Leafs. That was a big move for them but they are overloading ahead of playoff time up north and we all know how that goes. But Auston Matthews is good at hockey.