Washington Capitals shouldn't interrupt team chemistry at the trade deadline

The Washington Capitals may have lost two in a row but they still sit in a quality spot as they enter Friday's practice ahead of Saturday afternoon's contest with a 38-13-8 record for 84 points.

Again, if it ain't broke don't fix it

To break this down more that's three points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the top spot in the NHL. They lead the Eastern Conference by nine points ahead of the Florida Panthers. In the Metropolitan Division they're up 12 over the Carolina Hurricanes. If the season ended today the Caps would face the Columbus Blue Jackets who occupy the second wild card spot.

New Capitals general manager Chris Patrick addressed the media ahead of the Caps loss to the Blues and his approach to the upcoming deadline is similar to my outlook on staying pat.

"I think it's going to be a balance of, are there ways to improve our team? Versus risking over-tinkering with what's been a pretty good group this year. "

Chris Patrick

And here's the obvious reason why they shouldn't mess with the lineup nor chemistry, one trade could cost them a first round pick over the summer. Or a second rounder. That usually comes with the territory of having that much standings dominance. Patrick would add the following:

"We have to be open to anything... In general, at the trade deadline over the last few years, you don't see first round picks moving as much. It seems to be more second round picks. We're open to do whatever if it's going to improve our team. But we're not going to do deals for the sake of making deals"

Chris Patrick

Dylan Strome leads the Caps in points with 59 (18 goals and 41 assists). His 41 assists lead the team. Aliaksei Protas really came into his own with 23 goals and 27 assists for 50 points. Pierre-Luc Dubois potted a goal in the loss to the Blues and now has 14 goals and 35 assists for 49 points.

Alex Ovechkin leads the Caps in goals with 30 and also has 17 assists for 47 points. Connor McMichael also had a goal in the loss Thursday night which increased his total to 21 goals and 24 asssits for 45 points. Tom Wilson, who missed last night's game due to illness, has a career high 26 goals and 19 assists for 45 points.

And the play of Logan Thompson has been outstanding which is why he earned the contract that he did. He's 25-3-5 with a 2.28 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. Charlie Lindgren got the loss in net last night so his record is now 13-10-3 with a 2.70 goals against average and a .896 save percentage.

That's a lot of stats we've just gave you and many of these jump off the page. Why would you trade any of those players we've mentioned. And Jakob Chychrun has really grown as a defenseman and needs to be extended but there's no rush in that either. He's got 17 goals and 22 assists for 39 points.

"I'm not really going to get into it other than we've been really happy with all of our guys on expiring days this year. We've talked to all of their representatives and we're at various stages with all of them. "

Chris Patrick

The Caps have a big March and April ahead as the regular season concludes. March 7 is the deadline and between now and 3 p.m. then we'll see what happens. But if nothing happens, don't be surprised either.