John McCreary — USA TODAY Sports
Capitals Plan To Explore Trade Market & Free Agency To Bolster Offense; Where Do The Goals Come From For GM MacLellan?
ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals have quite a few questions to answer this offseason, but there's one that looms larger than the others: where do the goals come from?
It's no secret that Washington needs help on offense. The team averaged just 2.63 goals per game in the regular season, the fifth-least in the NHL, as Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Anthony Mantha all parted ways over the course of the year. Not only that, but the power play saw its fair share of struggles, and ultimately, the lack of scoring played a role in the Capitals being swept by the New York Rangers after sneaking into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
So, for general manager Brian MacLellan, the goals will come from a few different places.
While he explained that he hopes that a lot of the offense can come from within — after all, the team witnessed its promising youth step up and fill major voids this season — the answer lies outside the organization as well.
"I mean, I think trades and free agency. I think we need to add something in that area," MacLellan said. "We need to get a little more skill, a little more goals. We find a way to do that."
Bolstering the forecheck will go a long way for the Capitals, who are watching Alex Ovechkin enter the twilight of his monumental career as he continues to work toward Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record and may also say goodbye to T.J. Oshie this offseason.
MacLellan also addressed the need to take the pressure off of No. 8, who cannot singlehandedly carry the offense at 38 and counting.
Over the last few seasons, MacLellan has been targeting a young, top-6 forward, but the market hasn't presented D.C. with many options. This offseason, though, there could be more cap space to work with, which could result in Washington looking at some bigger names.
Some names that could be available in free agency include Sam Reinhart, Teuvo Teravainen and Chandler Stephenson, and there could be more names on the trade market as well.
The trade market will likely become active at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas from June 28-29. Free agency then opens on July 1 at 12 p.m.
Beyond that, MacLellan also said that he's looking forward to seeing the likes of Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas and more of the team's young rising stars continue to step up and provide more on the forecheck.
"Externally and internally, we need to improve some of our young guys," MacLellan added.
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