Capitals will 'be aggressive' on trade front, in free agency, GM says

The Washington Capitals aren’t done trying to upgrade their team after trading for center Pierre-Luc Dubois last week.

General manager Brian MacLellan said the Capitals plan to be busy seeking trades heading into and after the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Sphere in Las Vegas, which begins Friday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS), and on the unrestricted free agent market, which opens for business at noon ET on Monday.

“Looking into a couple areas and, hopefully, we’re going to be aggressive here and improve our roster,” MacLellan said during a Zoom call Thursday. “… Looking at our defensive mix, wouldn’t mind changing that up a little bit and adding a forward also.”

MacLellan said it’s unlikely the Capitals would be willing to trade their first-round pick, No. 17, in the draft to do so, though.

“I would doubt it,” he said. “It would have to be something that we really liked, but as of now I would anticipate us keeping that pick.”

Washington expects Dubois to center one of its top two lines after acquiring the 26-year-old in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings for goalie Darcy Kuemper on June 19. Though Dubois is coming off a down season in which he had 40 points (16 goals, 24 assists) in 82 games with the Kings and one goal in five Stanley Cup Playoff games, he had an NHL career-high 63 points (27 goals, 36 assists) in 73 games with the Winnipeg Jets in 2022-23.

With the hope Dubois can rebound with a change of scenery, the Capitals thought it was worth the risk of taking on the seven remaining seasons on the eight-year, $68 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value) he signed with Los Angeles after he was acquired in a trade with Winnipeg on June 27, 2023.

“I think the season he had in L.A. didn’t go as planned, so there was an opportunity there to acquire him,” MacLellan said. “They were looking for a goalie, so the match came about after a couple conversations.”

After missing the playoffs last season for the first time since 2013-14, Washington (40-31-11) qualified as the second wild card from the Eastern Conference this season before losing to the New York Rangers in four games in the first round. Among the areas the Capitals targeted for improvement is their offense after they were 28th in the NHL in scoring 2.63 goals per game this season.

Washington appears set at center after adding Dubois to a mix that also includes Dylan Strome, 27, Hendrix Lapierre, 22, Connor McMichael, 23, and Nic Dowd, 34.

“I like our center depth now,” MacLellan said. “Both McMichael and ‘Lappy’ are making strides getting better. We added Dubois. Strome’s played well for us. So I like where we’re at (with) center-depth ability. We’ve got a good blend of really young guys and a couple mid-range guys, too.”

Trading Kuemper, who was 13-14-3 with a 3.31 goals-against average, .890 save percentage and one shutout in 33 games (30 starts) this season, clears the way for Charlie Lindgren to be the Capitals’ clear-cut No. 1 goalie. Lindgren was 25-16-7 with a 2.67 GAA, .911 save percentage and tied for the NHL lead with six shutouts this season in a League career-high 50 games (48 starts).

Washington will look for an experienced goalie to support Lindgren, but also have Hunter Shepard and Clay Stevenson, who helped Hershey win the Calder Cup as American Hockey League champions for the second consecutive season, waiting in the wings.

“We like the progression of what’s happened in Hershey,” MacLellan said. “Both our goalies have played really well. Maybe they would have a little inexperience, but anticipate both playing NHL games at some point.”

Though the Capitals took on Dubois' contract, they were able to move Kuemper, who has three seasons remaining on a five-year, $26.25 million contract ($5.25 million AAV) he signed with Washington on July 13, 2022, and will have more flexibility to add players with the NHL salary cap increasing from $83.5 million to $88 million next season.

“Quite a bit more flexibility,” MacLellan said. “We have a little bit of room, the cap went up and we have draft capital, so it makes it easier to make things happen.”

Among that draft capital is a second-round pick in the draft (No. 52) acquired in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights for forward Anthony Mantha on March 5 and three picks in the third round (Nos. 82, 83, 90).

"There's opportunities that come up that those draft picks are currency, so it gives you more flexibility,” MacLellan said. “It gives us more flexibility to make transactions and acquire players.”

MacLellan said there have been more discussions among teams about exchanging picks to move up or move back in the draft, but the “normal amount” of discussions about trading players, too.

“Guys are trying to retool their rosters, so there's certain guys that are available, much like any other year,” he said.

The Capitals have already made qualifying offers to McMichael and forward Beck Malenstyn, who are potential restricted free agents; MacLellan said they are negotiating new contracts with each. He reiterated that potential unrestricted free agent forwards Max Pacioretty and Nicolas Aube-Kubel are unlikely to be re-signed.

MacLellan had nothing new to report about forward T.J. Oshie, who said after the season he would need to find an answer to his recurring back problems to continue playing. The 37-year-old was limited to 52 games this season and had 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists). He had one assist in four playoff games.

“He's still in search of a permanent solution, talking to doctors, [and] our training staff,” MacLellan said. “It's the beginning of the summer, so we'll see how it plays out near the end of the summer."