{"id":600388,"date":"2026-04-22T22:03:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/600388\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T22:03:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:03:34","slug":"chris-patrick-confirms-capitals-plans-to-target-top-six-forward-and-right-handed-defenseman-our-wallets-full-if-theres-an-opportunity-wed-like-to-jump-on-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/600388\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Patrick confirms Capitals plans to target top-six forward and right-handed defenseman: \u2018Our wallet\u2019s full. If there\u2019s an opportunity, we\u2019d like to jump on it.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Capitals<\/a> are making it clear they are buyers this summer.<\/p>\n

After the trade deadline, when he added more future assets to the team\u2019s coffers, general manager Chris Patrick believes the Capitals are in a great position to add to their roster. The Caps have one of the better groups of prospects in the NHL and valuable draft capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I\u2019m optimistic in that I think we\u2019re in really the best spot we\u2019ve been in as far as having the stuff to trade that a team might want,\u201d Patrick said Monday<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve got picks. We\u2019ve got some good prospects. I mean, there\u2019s obviously some prospects that we\u2019re not going to move in these deals. So, from that perspective, our wallet\u2019s full. If there\u2019s an opportunity there, we\u2019d like to jump on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

By trading John Carlson<\/a> and Nic Dowd<\/a> at the deadline, the Capitals netted a 2026 first-round pick, a 2029 second-round pick, and two 2027 third-round picks. They also have their own 2026 first-round pick, which is at worst the 16th overall selection.<\/p>\n

Patrick reiterated that the team will again be on the hunt for a scoring forward to help bolster their offense, while also searching for help on the right side of their defense. The Capitals have specifically been looking for the right forward for nearly two years now, missing out on names like\u00a0Nikolaj Ehlers<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Artemi Panarin<\/a>\u00a0in either free agency or on the trade market.<\/p>\n

On defense, the team currently has just two right-handed rearguards under contract for next season: Matt Roy<\/a> and Dylan McIlrath<\/a>. They will also have to factor in Rasmus Sandin<\/a>\u2018s recovery from ACL surgery<\/a>, as he had been playing on the right side at the end of the season but could miss the first few months of the 2026-27 campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure, we\u2019ll explore everything, and we\u2019ll just try to get the best player we can get for those positions and try to add in the offseason what we think fits with our team and what we need,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have some holes in the backend here to fill in on the right side, so we\u2019ll be looking there as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Capitals don\u2019t seem to necessarily want to make those additions before or even at the draft, with Patrick mentioning he\u2019d be fine with using both first-round picks. However, he has previously stated that he\u2019d like to get a sense of what Alex Ovechkin\u2019s career plans are before heading into the draft<\/a>, which may hint that the Caps will be wheeling and dealing before they get on the clock.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if you don\u2019t trade those picks, you\u2019re getting two more young players into the fold that are potential assets in a future deal, or maybe make other prospects more expendable,\u201d Patrick said.<\/p>\n

Many around the league believe the trade market is expected to be highly competitive, as this year\u2019s free agency class is among the weakest in recent memory. The Capitals\u2019 top brass seem to agree with that evaluation, as president of hockey operations Brian MacLellan noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think teams have cap room now, so you\u2019re able to sign your own players, especially if they\u2019re good players,\u201d MacLellan said. \u201cIf someone does get to free agency, I think they\u2019re going to get paid well. And there might be a couple of trade opportunities, but I think there\u2019s going to be a number of clubs that are looking to add that way. So, it\u2019s going to be a competitive environment this offseason. You\u2019re going to have to buck up if you want to sign or trade for a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NHL salary cap is set for another major increase from $95.5 million to $104 million. While that means the Capitals are set to have around $36.6 million in available space, many other teams will have around the same amount, or even more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Capitals are making it clear they are buyers this summer. After the trade deadline, when he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-600388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}