Screenshot: Washington Capitals
“Extrovert” is a word that could define Washington Capitals general manager Brian McClellan’s press conference this afternoon, following the Capitals’ moves on NHL free agency Opening Day on July 1. The decision surrounding his club moving forward.
While the Capitals’ free moves weren’t the headliners, the most notable addition to the team came in the form of former Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty, who signed a one-year contract with Washington after playing in Carolina last season.
Goal-scoring McClellan said of the team’s interest in the 34-year-old veteran, “I think we have to find a way to score more goals, and that’s what he does.”
Pacioretty only played five games with the Hurricanes in 2022-23 before re-injuring his Achilles tendon.
“A good player, aside from injury I think he’s still better than he was in his later years,” McClellan said, noting that the team “wouldn’t schedule” in Pacioretty’s debut with Washington, and did so “diligently” before signing the veteran from the 855 NHL career match, talks with doctors about injury.
The Capitals also added fullback Joel Edmondson in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens, increasing depth in the bluelines in the process.
“I think when we were going through the free agent market, the commercial market, it was an item we wanted to add to our portfolio,” McClellan said of the reasoning behind the Edmundson acquisition. “I look at the free agent market, look at the cost.”
“You decided to go in that direction, he spent the pick. Plus keeping the salary was also attractive to us because we could afford that. So we’re adding players with limited space.”
McClellan also noted that he believed Pacioretty could serve as the team’s top six forward, while Edmondson’s role could vary, depending on whether certain games were favored by the Cubs’ new coaching staff and that he “would get a chance to play with different players.”
Aiming for younger players this season, the Capitals appear to have kicked the pack on a number of moves that, during the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, lead to free agency. Despite the addition of two veteran players, the current pool of young prospects still have a chance of a roster place this fall.
“I do,” McClellan, when asked about opportunities for players such as Connor McMichael, Beck Mallenstein and Aliaxi Protas, replied, “I think they all made a good playoff, they’re all getting better… I pencil them in for next year.”
As for the rest of the season, hats don’t rule out more options.
“Ideally, I think our strategy going into the draft period was to make a deal,” McClellan revealed, “to kind of identify the age group that we’re targeting and try to make a trade and bring in the top six pitchers.”
“We were open to possibilities. He pursued a number of things, but unfortunately it didn’t come through for us, so…we’re looking to add a top six man, which we did with Pacioretty, and we’ll continue to keep an eye on the trade market,” McClellan finished adding that the team believes that The ideal target is to be between the ages of 25 and 30.
“I think we had an aggressive approach to the draft and nothing worked out. And we’ll continue to have conversations moving forward. I assume you get to mid-July and things calm down, and then things pick up again in training camp, and that’ll be the timing of that.”
Defenseman Martin Fehervary, among the young players with a hat, is currently a restricted free agent. McClellan says the moves were made with a contract for Fehervary in mind, while the team will begin discussing a contract extension with Tom Wilson.
“We’ll have some time here, now, so we’ll start talking and see where it goes from here.”
To hear MacLellan’s full comments, see below: