Amid a five-game dropping streak and dwindling playoff hopes, the Washington Capitals traded defenseman Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to the Boston Bruins as a part of a three-team deal that introduced three draft picks and ahead Craig Smith.
Along with Smith, 33, Washington acquired a 2023 first-round choose, a 2024 third-round choose and a 2025 second-round choose.
As a part of the deal, the Minnesota Wild initially acquired Orlov for ahead Andrei Svetlakov and dealt him to Boston for a fifth-round choose. The Capitals, who retain half of Orlov’s $5.1 million wage, then traded Svetlakov to Boston. The Wild will retain 25 % of Orlov’s wage.
The transfer got here lower than an hour after Orlov and Hathaway have been scratched from the lineup earlier than Thursday evening’s sport in opposition to the Anaheim Geese — and signaled the path the Capitals’ entrance workplace intends to go earlier than subsequent week’s NHL commerce deadline. Each Orlov and Hathaway have been set to hit free company this summer season. The Capitals now have six picks within the 2023 draft, together with two within the first spherical.
“This commerce permits us to accumulate draft capital, infuse youth and restock our system,” Washington Normal Supervisor Brian MacLellan mentioned in a press release. “Whereas this season has confirmed difficult with accidents to our vital gamers, we’re ready to make use of a few of our present belongings to retool our membership and construct a aggressive group shifting ahead.”
The commerce solely bolsters the Bruins, house owners of the league’s greatest file and a Stanley Cup favourite. Orlov is taken into account a top-four defenseman; Hathaway is a two-way bruiser who brings a bodily presence.
Smith, who has 10 factors prior to now 42 video games, is within the final season of a three-year cope with a $3.1 million cap hit. The Bruins waived Smith in December, however he rejoined the roster after going unclaimed. A former fourth-round draft choose, Smith performed 9 seasons in Nashville earlier than becoming a member of the Bruins in the course of the 2020-2021 marketing campaign.
Orlov, 31, had change into certainly one of Washington’s most dependable gamers over the previous a number of seasons, an unheralded a part of the franchise’s getting old championship core. Orlov was within the last season of a six-year deal.
After enduring a stint on injured reserve this season due to a lower-body damage, Orlov had returned to deliver stability to a defensive corps that has been in flux since John Carlson was dominated out indefinitely after being within the facet of the top with a puck in December. Orlov was the fourth-longest tenured Capitals participant behind Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Carlson, whom he anchored the group’s high defensive pairing with for the previous 5 seasons.
Orlov, taken fifty fifth general within the 2009 draft, was hopeful of ending his profession with the Capitals and was reportedly in talks with the group earlier this season about an extension.
“To be in the identical spot for thus lengthy, it’s residence,” Orlov mentioned last year. “We really feel good as a household right here. We’ll see what is going to occur.”
Hathaway, 31, had established himself as a powerful locker room presence, and whereas his offensive numbers had dipped, he nonetheless performed a vital position as a bodily fourth-line winger. He has 9 targets and 7 assists in 59 video games.
