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Capitals acquire Tom Gilbert from LA Kings for conditional draft pick
The Washington Capitals added some depth on defense, acquiring veteran Tom Gilbert from the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday.
Washington gave the Kings a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft in order to pick up Gilbert’s services. Los Angeles will retain 20 percent of Gilbert’s salary worth $1.12 million for this season. Gilbert had played 18 games, scoring one goal and adding four assists for the Kings while averaging 15:27 of ice-time per-contest. He also held a minus-5.45 adjusted 5-on-5 CF%, meaning the Kings held onto the puck less when Gilbert was on the ice than when he was on the bench.
Gilbert had been with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, since Feb. 2 where he played five games and notched one assist. Los Angeles signed Gilbert to a one-year contract in the offseason. After the trade, the Capitals announced they had assigned Gilbert to the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
Los Angeles is currently fighting for a Wild Card spot and sits one point ahead of the Calgary Flames for the final postseason position in the Western Conference with 60 points. The Kings have two games in hand on the Flames.
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The decision by the Kings to deal Gilbert opens up more salary cap space for the team to toy with around the NHL’s trade deadline period. According to Cap Friendly, Los Angeles has $6,990,456 of salary cap space – though part of that is Jonathan Quick’s $5.8 million salary cap hit that’s on long term injured reserve. Quick has been out since the first game of the season with a groin injury and reportedly won’t be back until March. On Wednesday, ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun reported the Kings have some interest in acquiring Colorado Avalanche forward Jarome Iginla, though adding Iginla’s $5.33 million salary cap hit could be difficult considering Los Angeles’ current salary situation.
As for the NHL leading Capitals, two weeks ago, the Washington Post noted that the team was in the market for a veteran defenseman to shore up its lower pairs. Gilbert certainly fits the bill, having played 655 games, along with 17 career playoff contests.
Rather than trying to acquire a top-four defensemen at the deadline, Washington will likely opt for depth, as the current roster is the league’s stingiest with 2.10 goals against per game. Acquiring depth at the deadline would also fall in line with (general manager Brian) MacLellan’s previous trade deadline moves.
In 2015, MacLellan traded for Tim Gleason, and the stay-at-home defenseman played on the team’s third pairing in the postseason. Last year, Washington traded a third-round pick for Mike Weber, who played in 10 games. The Capitals were pleasantly surprised by the Gleason addition and they weren’t unhappy with how their trade for Weber turned out, as they stood by their rationale for getting him, insurance in case injuries took a toll on the blue line in the playoffs. They went after a physical, stay-at-home blue-liner because they already had puck-movers in Matt Niskanen, John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov and Nate Schmidt, so Weber provided additional variety.
With Washington largely avoiding injuries on defense this season, it’s possible MacLellan again adds another defensemen, just in case players start to break down in the postseason.
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The Capitals currently have $2,913,949 of salary cap space according to Cap Friendly, which should give them some more room should they want to solidify another part of their team before the deadline.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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