Capitals Were In On Chychrun ‘Down To The End’ As Orlov Made Future Clear

The Washington Capitals retooled on the fly while selling big ahead of the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, and they also brought in a young, strong defenseman in Rasmus Sandin as their blue line took on a whole new look with Dmitry Orlov and Erik Gustafsson shipped out. And though Sandin ended up being the only defensive acquisition for D.C., there was a big push to also bring Jakob Chychrun on board.

General manager Brian MacLellan joined Elliot in the Morning to discuss the team's sell-off at the deadline and other moves and transactions, and he shared that the team was in the running for Chychrun leading up to the deadline and was "involved pretty much the whole" time until the Arizona Coyotes ultimately traded him to the Ottawa Senators.

"We were involved pretty much the whole deadline right down to the end on Chychrun. He fit the profile and the type of player we were looking for," MacLellan said on EITM. "I think in the end, it ended up going the other way on us, but we hung in there as long as we could in trying to get him.”

Washington had looked to add Chychrun as an upgrade with John Carlson still on long-term injured reserve and Orlov and Gustafsson being dealt to Boston and Toronto respectively. Orlov's negotiations hadn't gone according to plan, as the two sides weren't close on term or money. Orlov had reportedly wanted a longer term, but he also made it clear to MacLellan that he wanted the opportunity to test the market, which led to the deal.

"The negotiations got to a point where I thought Orlov really wanted to test free agency, and same with [Garnet Hathaway], just to see where they were at," MacLellan added. "And I don't blame them, they’re both good players, they both fit in great with our team, but they wanted to test it, so we had to make a decision. It changed what was going on and we proceeded from there."