Report: Capitals Looking For Forwards, Have Potential Trade Partners Out West

With the Washington Capitals currently in a bit of a rut, trading wins and losses and not striking a balance. And now, the team appears ready to turn to the trade market for help.

Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Washington is looking to add forwards to their arsenal, and some potential trade partners could be the Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks.

In Vancouver, a lot of names are up for grabs, including JT Miller, Brock Boeser and Conor Garland. Jared McCann is also a potential name to watch out for in Seattle. However, Miller and Boeser could warrant reasonably big returns. As reported by The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, some pieces on the table could be Michal Kempny, the 2022 first-round pick and Vitek Vanecek.

One interesting name could be Garland. He has 11 goals and 26 points through 44 games this season and can also log time on the power play.

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Right now, the Capitals are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games, and they haven’t been able to string together at least three straight wins since December. They haven’t been able to get a lot of secondary scoring or really capitalize on their opportunities, let alone get to the net or cash in on rebounds. Not only that, the power play continues to be a problem and needs a spark. Washington’s man-advantage is the fifth-worst in the league (15.5 percent). The power play also surrendered a shorthanded goal against on Sunday, marking the sixth time in 2021-22 that the team has surrendered a SHG.

“I think our power play’s kind of always been a buoy for us too during these times. It hasn’t been too bad in the last little bit. But in the bigger picture, longer-term thing I think that’s hurt us a lot this year,” John Carlson said.

The Capitals have also been rumored to be looking at goaltending options. Ilya Samsonov has not been able to prove his worth as a full-time No. 1, and Vanecek is currently on the injured reserve but has only recently found himself getting into a rhythm. The team’s other options in Pheonix Copley and Zach Fucale haven’t proven to be long-term solutions.