The Washington Capitals may have acquired two players in the past week, but their Metropolitan Division rivals have been just as active at the NHL trade deadline.
The Pittsburgh Penguins landed center Patrick Marleau in a trade with the San Jose Sharks on Monday morning in a move similar to the Capitals’ trade for winger Ilya Kovalchuk on Sunday.
Marleau, like Kovalchuk, is an aging forward on an expiring contract that figures to bolster the bottom six of his new team.
“Although we have had a disappointing season in San Jose, [Marleau] deserves every opportunity to have a chance at winning a Stanley Cup, and we’re happy to help accommodate that,” Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said in a statement.
The Penguins already acquired Jason Zucker a few weeks ago, and they aren’t the only division rival the Capitals have to worry about.
The New York Islanders acquired center Jean-Gabriel Pageau from the Ottawa Senators for three draft picks, two of them conditional. New York later announced they had signed Pageau to a six-year contract extension.
The Islanders have struggled to score this year, and they responded by locking in someone with 24 goals and 16 assists this season.
And the Carolina Hurricanes were perhaps most active of all. First, they sent two NHL players and two prospects to the Florida Panthers to land center Vincent Trocheck. Then they acquired defensemen Brady Skjei and Sami Vatanen from two division opponents, the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils, respectively.
The Hurricanes are just eight points back of the Capitals’ division lead, a year after eliminating them from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the first round.
The Capitals added defenseman Brenden Dillon last week before the Kovalchuk acquisition.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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