Brian MacLellan says Capitals may change trade deadline plans amid slump
It's been a tough time for the Washington Capitals over the last couple of months. They went from being tied for first place in the entire National Hockey League with the Tampa Bay Lightning, to being fourth in the Metropolitan division, holding onto the final wild card spot by eight points.
Because of the team's slump, going 8-12-2 since December 31st, Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan is considering changing how the team will approach the trade deadline on March 21st.
McLellan went on to add, "In the beginning of the year, I would say (we were) a legit contender. There's probably three, four teams that are at the next level, but we're not next level. (We were) at the high end of that next level of teams," MacLellan said. "Now, I'd say we're at the low level of that next level of teams. We need to improve. We need to get back to where we were."
It's unlikely the Capitals go into a minor sell mode leading up to the deadline as they have the capability of at least holding on to one of the wild card spots in the Eastern Conference. But if things continue to go south, some pending free agents they could move on from include: Justin Schultz and Michal Kempny.
On the flip side, if Washington takes a turn in a positive direction, it's possible they add some minor pieces.
In terms of the goaltending in Washington, the Capitals have a relatively young, inexperienced tandem in Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek. McLellan said that they have checked in on the goaltending market in recent weeks, but it has to be an 'obvious upgrade', or else they'll stay with Samsonov and Vanecek.
The NHL's trade deadline is fast approaching, only 18 days away. Action on the trade front is expected to pick up in the next week or so.
Source: theScore.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Ryan McLeod | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Matthew Boldy | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Connor McDavid | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brent Burns | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mats Zuccarello | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Dylan Cozens | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zach Hyman | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Martin Necas | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Marco Rossi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Evan Bouchard | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Connor Clifton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Joel Eriksson Ek | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jesperi Kotkaniemi | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Beck Malenstyn | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alex Tuch | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Capitals | 44 | 29 | 10 | 5 | 63 | |
Jets | 45 | 30 | 12 | 3 | 63 | |
Golden Knights | 44 | 29 | 12 | 3 | 61 | |
Wild | 44 | 27 | 13 | 4 | 58 | |
Oilers | 43 | 27 | 13 | 3 | 57 | |
Stars | 43 | 28 | 14 | 1 | 57 | |
Devils | 46 | 26 | 15 | 5 | 57 | |
Maple Leafs | 45 | 27 | 16 | 2 | 56 | |
Hurricanes | 44 | 26 | 15 | 3 | 55 | |
Avalanche | 45 | 27 | 17 | 1 | 55 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||