Capitals plan to be ‘aggressive’ in free agency, NHL draft

The Capitals are a team in transition.

Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said the organization is keeping its foot on the gas, noting that they’ll be aggressive in the trade market throughout this weekend’s NHL draft.

Despite offloading several older players at the trade deadline and introducing several prospects to their first NHL action, Washington unexpectedly made the playoffs last season thanks to a springtime surge.

But, as 38-year-old superstar Alex Ovechkin enters the twilight years of his career, the Capitals have a balancing act to maintain. How do they prepare for the post-Ovechkin years while remaining competitive during the Russian’s final seasons?

MacLellan has said he’d look to free agency and the trade market to add impact pieces when he can. Last week, the “right circumstances” allowed the Capitals to trade goaltender Darcy Kuemper to the Los Angeles Kings for 26-year-old center Pierre-Luc Dubois, the No. 3 pick in the 2016 draft.

The Capitals aren’t done making moves, their general manager said.

“We’re still looking to do more, both in free agency and the trade market,” he told reporters Thursday on a pre-draft conference call. “Hopefully, we’re going to be aggressive here and try and improve our roster.”

The prospects who join the Capitals on Friday and Saturday are crucial for the franchise’s long-term plans, but MacLellan says he could trade picks this year to add an established player to his rotation.

“Those draft picks are currency,” he noted. “It helps you, gives you more flexibility to make transactions and acquire players.”

Though the Capitals plan to be active in the trade market, they don’t expect to ship out the No. 17 pick on Friday. 

But planning for a pick in the middle of the round is a challenge, Washington’s executives said. 

The San Jose Sharks are widely expected to select center Macklin Celebrini with the first pick. After that, there’s no clear consensus about which players will be selected.

“There’s a section of players at the top that are really good. Then it’s going to be a little bit more gray as it gets to us. Teams will have guys they like better than other guys, so it might get used up a mixed up a little bit as it approaches our pick,” MacLellan said. “So, we’re excited. Ross [Mahoney] has a few guys he really has interest in and we hope we get one of them.”

Assistant general manager Ross Mahoney, who runs Washington’s draft room, is optimistic about this year’s crop of prospects.

“We’re going to have a good player available to us at 17,” he said this week. “We’ll see how it goes as far as who the other teams are picking in front of us, but we feel confident that we’re going to get a good prospect at that pick.”

Washington drafted four forwards with its six picks last year — its prospect pool is now littered full with the offensive end. But MacLellan said he “wouldn’t mind” changing up the defensive mix.

The organization hasn’t publicly identified any draft targets, but analysts have tied the Capitals to several defensemen.

“There’s a belief among those I’ve talked to that they’re going to target a [defenseman] this year,” The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler wrote in a mock draft, predicting that the Capitals would select Czech defenseman Adam Jiricek.

Jiricek, who turns 18 on Friday, was once considered one of the top defenders in this year’s draft class. He slid down draft boards after suffering a season-ending knee injury in December.

“He’s a good, mobile skater for his size … a good two-way defenseman who likes to join the rush,” Jukka-Pekka Vuorinen, the NHL’s director of European scouting, told the league’s website. “He plays calm and has solid puck retrieval, can keep his game simple when needed. He moves the puck quickly, sees the ice well, has excellent passing skills in all situations.”

After struggling to score throughout much of last season, the Capitals may be drawn to a goal-scoring defenseman like Canada’s Carter Yakemchuk.

The 18-year-old scored 30 goals last season for the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen. The 6-foot-3-inch Yakemchuk has the size to stand up to NHL opposition but the speed and puck skills to remain a scoring threat at the next level.

The NHL draft begins at 7 p.m. on Friday in Las Vegas. The second day, which will feature the final five rounds, begins at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.