As division rivals deal, Caps stay quiet
After unsuccessful attempts to trade up, team takes Swiss defenseman Geisser
CHICAGO — Brian MacLellan and Marc Bergevin stood at a back corner of the draft floor in United Center on Saturday afternoon, an indication a trade between MacLellan’s Capitals and Bergevin’s Canadiens was being considered. A year ago at this event, the two general managers shook hands before Montreal sent center Lars Eller to Washington in exchange for two second-round picks.
But on Saturday, the two men returned to their draft tables without a deal, and the rest of the afternoon was uneventful for the Capitals. In each of the past nine NHL drafts, Washington has made some sort of a trade, a streak that was broken this year in Chicago with the organization seeming content to watch its fellow Metropolitan Division teams hog all of the action.
Washington had a pick in each of their last four rounds and its first pick didn’t come until the fourth round, when the team selected Swiss defenseman Tobias Geisser in the 120th slot.
“We looked to trade up a couple times,” MacLellan said. “[Assistant general manager Ross Mahoney] and his staff liked a couple guys, so we tried to move up and get those guys, but unfortunately, they got taken before we got there.”
Said Mahoney: “When you don’t have a first, second or third, you obviously know there are going to be taken, but we were very happy with who was there when we picked in all rounds.”
The Capitals made their splash on Friday by re-signing T.J. Oshie to an eight-year, $46 million deal, marking their only notable move of the weekend. Meanwhile, every other team in the Metropolitan Division was busy. The New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers had the top two picks, respectively, and Swiss center Nico Hirschier went first overall with center Nolan Patrick going second. The Flyers also loaded up on first-round draft picks by trading winger Brayden Schenn to St. Louis and taking on center Jori Lehtera’s contract.
Some blockbusters happened before the draft even started Friday, with the Islanders acquiring a top-six forward in Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle in exchange for Ryan Strome. New York then shipped defenseman Travis Hamonic and a 2019 or 2020 fourth-round pick to the Calgary Flames on Saturday for a 2018 first-round pick and two future second-round picks. That also cleared roughly $4 million in salary cap space to free the Islanders to potentially secure another acquisition. Meanwhile, the Columbus Blue Jackets added Artemi Panarin, who scored 31 goals and 43 assists last season, and dealt Brandon Saad back to Chicago.
The Rangers moved center Derek Stepan and goaltender Antti Raanta to Arizona for defenseman Anthony DeAngelo and the seventh-overall pick in an effort to clear salary cap room for freeagent signings. Pittsburgh added muscle with physical forward Ryan Reaves, sending the Blues center Oskar Sundqvist and a draft pick in exchange. The Carolina Hurricanes added to their young defense on Thursday by trading Vegas a draft pick for Trevor van Riemsdyk.
The Metropolitan Division was the most competitive in the NHL last season, with five teams finishing with at least 94 points and just 10 points separating the top three teams, which were three of the top four teams in the league. The Capitals finished with the league’s best regularseason record, and while their counterparts in the division made some moves to potentially overtake them next season, Washington was in part handcuffed from doing too much because it still has five restricted free agents to re-sign and is now limited in funds thanks to Oshie’s new $5.75 million cap hit. Still on Washington’s wish list is a top-four, left-shot defenseman after Nate Schmidt was taken in the Las Vegas expansion draft.
MacLellan said the Capitals intend to extend qualifying offers to all five of their restricted free agents to retain their negotiating rights, with the deadline Monday. The first day of unrestricted free agency arrives July 1, and MacLellan said Washington may explore that route in replacing Schmidt on the blue line.
In the meantime, the Capitals stocked up on blueline prospects for their future, drafting Geisser in the fourth round, Swedish left-shot defenseman Sebastian Walfridsson with pick No. 151 in the fifth round and right-shot American defenseman Benton Maass in the sixth round with the 182nd pick. The Capitals took forward Kristian Roykas-Marthinsen with their last selection of the draft in the seventh round.
“Just taking the best player that was available to us,” Mahoney said. “There were defensemen that we liked that were still on the board, so we took them . ... I think teams are always looking for defensemen, and so for us, there’s no problem in having extra defensemen in the farm system.”