TJ Oshie with the Caps: 558 GP, 191 G, 188 A, +12, 76 PPG
The Caps fleeced St. Louis in this trade. No question about it. I remember driving on my way to work a concert, and 106.7 the FAN interrupted their show to announce the trade. I pulled over and was absolutely losing it in my car. Brouwer was a fan favorite in Washington, and he put up 39 points in his season as a Blue. But then he moved on to Calgary. Copley and the 3rd (Garrett Pilon) even ended up back in Washington when it was all said and done. Despite his injury troubles, Oshie is going to go down as an all time great Cap, and he just hit his 1000th game. And he has probably has the most legendary USA mens hockey Olympic moment since 1980 with the birth of "TJ Sochi." Dude's had a hell of a career.
This trade is an extremely under the radar move. Was Steve Eminger a name that was going to move the needle for teams? Not really. But he was a solid bottom 4 defenseman when he played, and at the time of the trade, was still only 25. Moving him with a third round pick to jump up and nab a first was tidy work, and ended up paying massive dividends over the long run. John Carlson was drafted in the 08 draft, jumped into the lineup in the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, and he hasn't looked back since. He took over "put the puck in Ovechkins wheelhouse" duties on PP1 after Mike Green moved on, and has his own cannon of a shot that he uses from deep on the point. When it's all said and done, Carlson will go down as the greatest defenseman in franchise history.
6/24/16
Canadiens receive: 2017 WSH 2nd (Joni Ikonen), 2018 WSH 2nd (Olivier Rodrigue)
Capitals receive: Lars Eller
Lars Eller with the Capitals: 488 GP, 87 G, 121 A, +5
This trade was in my last post. Lars Eller was a key cog to the Caps system for over half a decade, providing great center depth up and down the lineup, but mainly playing a great third line shutdown role behind Backstrom and Kuznetsov. And, obviously, he scored the Stanley Cup winning goal. The man will never have to be buy a drink in DC for the rest of his life.
2/19/18
Blackhawks receive: 2018 TOR 3rd (Linus Karlsson)
Capitals receive: Michal Kempny
At the time, this was seen as a minor deadline move for depth. By the end of the playoffs, Kempny had turned into the key piece that was missing to the Caps defense, slotting in on the left side where Karl Alzner had played before he left for Montreal because he wanted to "win." (Alzner is still being paid by Montreal, but plays beer league the same nights I do at the Caps practice facility.) Kempny was absolutely huge in the Caps run to the cup that year and provided solid lockdown defense next to John Carlson throughout the playoffs. His time in DC after the cup run was a little shaky, and ended rough, but he will always have that cup run here.
2/27/04
Red Wings receive: Robert Lang
Capitals receive: Tomas Fleischmann, 2004 DET 1st (Mike Green), 2006 DET 4th (Luke Lynes)
Mike Green with the Capitals: 575 GP, 113 G, 247 A, +58, 52 PPG
Robert Lang was an awesome Capital, albeit not for long. But the Caps were not good in 2004, and moving off of Lang was a very obvious move. I have no idea who Luke Lynes is, and the one actual player coming back was Tomas Fleischmann, a prospect who ended up having a solid 11 year career, about half of it spent in Washington. But the crown jewel of this trade was the first round pick that turned into franchise legend defenseman Mike Green. Green was one of the four guys that made up the "Young Guns" core in Washington with Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Semin. I will die on the hill that Mike Green was the best defenseman in the NHL for the two seasons from 2008 to 2010. If injuries hadn't wrecked the guys body, Green could've had one of the most productive careers for a defenseman in NHL history. He was that good for those first few years. God I miss that young guns team.
The Predators got 22 games out of Brendan Witt. In those 17 games and 5 playoff games, he had 0 goals, 3 assists, and 80 penalty minutes total. In return, the Caps got 69 games out of Kris Beech, nice. In those games, Beech put up 8 goals and 18 assists for 26 points. And then they drafted Varlamov, who has been playing in the NHL for a decade and a half now, and more often than not has given his team a great chance to win every night. He wasn't in Washington for long, but he was solid while he was here, gathered a good return in a trade, and has gone on to have a good career. Besides the whole domestic assault thing.
7/2/17
Devils receive: Marcus Johansson
Capitals receive: 2018 FLA 2nd (Martin Fehervary), 2018 TOR 3rd (traded)
Marcus Johansson seems to pop up in deadline rumors every year. The Devils had just acquired Taylor Hall the previous offseason and were looking to get back to consistent playoff contention. Johansson put up 41 points in 77 games across two seasons for the Devils, matching his production level across his career. In return, the Caps received a 2nd and a 3rd, which was great value in hindsight. The third rounder was flipped to Chicago for Michal Kempny, polishing off a roster that went on to win the cup. The second turned into left defenseman Martin Fehervary, and I absolutely love this guy. He's physical, he's fast as hell, and he can make a great first pass. I'm hoping Marty will be in DC for a long time.
The Kings and Caps completed a pick swap during the 2007 draft that would shape the future of both clubs for the good. The Kings moved up the board to nab Alec Martinez in the 4th round. Obviously, Martinez worked out for the Kings, winning cups in 2012 and 2014, and scoring the cup winning overtime goal in the latter finals. But for the Caps, the trade paid off at the next draft when they picked goaltender Braden Holtby. Now, I will say I was lower on Holtby than most Caps fans throughout his career. But there's no denying the numbers the guy put up. After only playing 21 regular season games across two seasons, Holtby stepped in net against the defending champion Boston Bruins in the 2012 first round, and he preceded to absolutely shut them down. For the following 6-7 years, Holtby was consistently one of the top goalies in the league, winning a Vezina and tying the NHL single season wins record in the process. And I would argue that there was no bigger performance in the 2018 cup run than Holtbys back to back shutouts in games 6 and 7 against the Lightning. I would imagine Holtby will eventually see his name in the rafters at Capital One Arena.
Another deal with the Devil! I honestly couldn't tell you what happened to the two guys the Devils got with their picks. But what I can tell you is that I f*#$!ng love Protas. His passing and vision is already really good, and he has a deceptively quick release. If this dude could start using his size to his advantage a little more and work on his footwork, Protas can be a middle six monster for the Caps. And at age 23, there's plenty of time to get better.
12/28/09
Blue Jackets receive: Chris Clark, Milan Jurcina
Capitals receive: Jason Chimera
This is a very minor trade compared to most on this list, but when you look at what the Blue Jackets got out Clark and Jurcina, you realize the Caps made out like bandits. Between Clark and Jurcina, the Jackets got a total of 106 games played, 9 goals, 14 assists, a net -9 rating, and 69 penalty minutes, which is nice, but not awesome. Meanwhile, in 490 games as a Capital, Chimera put up a total of 82 goals, 115 assists, a net -2 rating, and 350 penalty minutes. He was a fantastic bottom 6 player and penalty killer in Washington, and was generally a favorite among Caps fans.
Arseni Gritsyuk has actually been very good in the KHL, just a matter of getting him over for NJD. He's currently 5th for SKA St. Petersburg in points per game.
Would add in Jensen for Bowey and a 2nd, Grubauer + Orpik to COL, and the series of Dillon trades as well.
I almost threw Jensen in there, but I just wanted to do 10 and already had done that trade in my last post. I had already done Eller too, i just felt like that trade had a bigger impact
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