Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee had some unwelcome news for the Washington Capitals ahead of the newest NHL team’s expansion draft on Wednesday.
“We’re going to have to move some defensemen because we’re going to claim a bunch,” McPhee said Tuesday.
Defenseman Nate Schmidt was always a candidate to be the Golden Knights’ selection and McPhee followed through Wednesday, picking the 25-year-old from the Capitals to join the upstart team out west. The move reunites Schmidt with McPhee, the former Capitals GM who signed him as an undrafted free agent in April 2013.
Schmidt’s absence, make no mistake, is going to hurt the Capitals next season. Schmidt was penciled in for a top four role along the Capitals’ blue line and the team now will have to search for candidates to replace him.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report the news.
The immediate answer on the roster is defenseman Brooks Orpik, who played primarily on the Capitals’ third pairing last year. Orpik, though, struggled heavily in the playoffs and was a team-worst -7, meaning the Capitals were seven goals worse with him on the ice than off.
Orpik also turns 37 in September and how much he can still contribute remains to be seen. Orpik has two years left on his contract and a salary cap hit of $5.5 million next year.
Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan indicated last month the plan for the 2017-18 season was to let the younger players continue to grow and assume larger roles — a plan that, at the time, included Schmidt.
Schmidt is a restricted free agent and stepped into the spotlight during the playoffs after Karl Alzner suffered a broken bone in his hand in the first round Toronto Maple Leafs series. Alzner missed six games with the injury, but Schmidt helped provide stability in his absence.
In the Pittsburgh Penguins series, which the Capitals lost in seven games, Schmidt boosted the play of Kevin Shattenkirk after coach Barry Trotz paired the two.
“Wherever Nate is going to play, I think his talent and drive to perform really showed in the playoffs,” goaltender Braden Holtby told reporters in Vegas on Tuesday. “And that’s going to come through wherever he goes.”
The Capitals exposing Schmidt to the expansion draft largely came down to numbers. Washington elected to protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie rather than eight skaters and one goalie, which were the two options teams had to choose from.
Matt Niskanen, John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov were the three defensemen the Capitals couldn’t afford to lose and so Schmidt was the odd man out.
Schmidt’s loss affects the Capitals’ depth on the defense. Alzner and Shattenkirk, both free agents, will likely hit the open market because the Capitals have to extend deals to their restricted free agents, primarily center Evgeny Kuznetsov, forward Andre Burakovsky and Orlov. Washington also wants to re-sign free agent T.J. Oshie, but that might be difficult considering the market for him might push the price too high.
That leaves the Capitals looking to fill their third defensive pairing with inexperienced players. Prospect Madison Bowey could have a chance to make the roster next season, assistant GM Ross Mahoney said. Bowey, the Capitals’ 2013 second-round pick, missed most of last season in the AHL with an ankle injury. But Mahoney said he is expected to recover and it’s up to Bowey to “hit the pavement running” at training camp.
Defenseman Taylor Chorney, 30, appeared in 18 games for the Capitals last season and is set to make $800,000 next year. Chorney played in 55 games with the Capitals in 2015-16.
Schmidt said after the season he was interested in playing in Las Vegas. He said he was ready for a bigger role and acknowledged the league has been evolving to suit players like him.
“It’s obviously helping me, the more skating, the more quickness we get in the league, the better it is for me,” Schmidt said.
With few draft picks to offer, MacLellan and the Capitals were handicapped when if came to making a deal with Vegas to prevent Schmidt from being picked. The Capitals have already dealt this year’s first three picks in the NHL draft.
The Capitals were also missing a second and a fifth round pick in 2018 because of trades for Lars Eller and Tyler Graovac. It is not clear if the sides were ever close to a deal. Multiple reports suggested the asking price from the Golden Knights was too high for the Capitals.
Because the Golden Knights picked Schmidt, the Capitals got to keep restricted free agent and backup goalie Philipp Grubauer.
MacLellan will now look to fill a new hole on the defense among the other priorities he has this off-season.
“It’s frustrating you’re going to lose a good player with the expansion draft and you’re going to have to react to it,” MacLellan said last month.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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