Washington Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan has made it no secret for months now that he has wanted to add to his team’s roster. Less than a month ago, MacLellan met with media at the Capitals’ practice facility and restated his desire to do so.
“Our goal is to have a top-six guy in the right age group, from the offseason, and our goal is still to do that,” he told reporters. “We’re still pursuing opportunities that might present that.”
One potential team that the Capitals could be targeting is the Columbus Blue Jackets. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman brought both teams up on the latest episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast and said that the Capitals have been “around” the Blue Jackets in terms of scouting potential trade targets.
Friedman says:
This Columbus thing is pretty interesting. I don’t think Edmonton is the only team that’s been around them. I don’t think that they’re the only team that’s been around Columbus a little bit. I think Washington has been around them. I think Vegas has been around them. There’s some teams looking at it.
Where there is smoke, there is potential fire. In addition to Elliotte’s report that the Capitals have been around the Blue Jackets, the same can be said the other way around. According to the Columbus Dispatch’s Brian Hedger, the Blue Jackets have had personnel at each and every stop of the Capitals’ current western road trip.
The Blue Jackets have a handful of young forwards that have been in the news lately. The biggest name of them all is 25-year-old Finnish sniper Patrik Laine. After Columbus’ recent 4-3 loss to the Capitals, Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent made Laine a healthy scratch in the team’s next game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Laine was not thrilled about the decision. Columbus has also sunk to the bottom of the Metropolitan Division with their 8-14-4 record.
“It’s probably over my career the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to me, so I’m obviously not happy about that,” Laine said in response. “They know that. It is what it is. It’s done and now we’re back, so just try to focus on playing.
“I mean, I’m not going to start analyzing it that much, because I don’t know what I’m going to say. I’ll just keep it at that. I’m not going to say anything dumb. It’s up to them. I just play here, and I play whenever they tell me.”
Through 16 games this year, Laine is well behind his usual point-scoring standards with just seven points (5g, 2a). Last year with Columbus, he amassed 52 points (22g, 30a) in just 55 games. That season was the first on the extension that he signed in July of 2022 for four years with an $8.7 million average annual value.
Laine appeared on The Athletic’s first edition of their trade board this season updated regularly by reporter and hockey insider Chris Johnston. “No one is happy in Columbus right now, and no one outside of the organization’s most prized young players and prospects is considered untouchable,” Johnston writes.
The Blue Jackets also have a trio of young, Russian forwards in Kirill Marchenko, Dmitri Voronkov, and Yegor Chinakhov. Voronkov and Chinakhov, more than Marchenko, have seen their names pop up on the rumor mill lately.
Voronkov has reportedly been battling spells of homesickness this season, his first outside of his native Russia. So much so, that according to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline, the Blue Jackets were alerted in November that Voronkov was exploring options to return home.
The big winger has since decided that he wants to stay in North America and has been one of Columbus most consistent producers of offense since. In 20 games this season, the 23-year-old has 12 points (5g, 7a).
Chinakhov, Columbus’ first-round draft selection in the 2020 NHL Draft, has been reportedly on the verge of asking for a trade out of Columbus. In another report from Hedger last week, Chinakhov’s agent Shumi Babaev was blatant about his desire to see his client moved on from the Blue Jackets.
“He doesn’t feel they trust him, and he wants to leave, Babaev said. “They don’t understand how bad ‘Chinny’ feels.” In that same report it is said that Chinakhov has directly expressed his concerns with Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen.
The 22-year-old Chinakhov has five points (3g, 2a) this season in 15 NHL games. Columbus has sent him to the AHL for stints in each of the last three seasons but he has proved to be above that level, tallying 13 points (7g, 6a) in 11 games for the Cleveland Monsters.
