Headlines

  • Blackhawks, Arvid Söderblom Avoid Arbitration With Two-Year Deal
  • Carter Hart, Others Found Not Guilty In Hockey Canada Sexual Assault Trial
  • Sharks, Avalanche Swap Daniil Gushchin, Oskar Olausson
  • Islanders Sign Maxim Tsyplakov To Two-Year Deal
  • Hurricanes Sign Jackson Blake To Eight-Year Extension
  • Kraken Sign Kaapo Kakko To Three-Year Contract
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Utah Mammoth
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Jets And Capitals Reportedly Discussed A Connor McMichael Trade

July 28, 2024 at 6:51 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 5 Comments

When Washington acquired Pierre-Luc Dubois from Los Angeles earlier this summer, it pushed Connor McMichael down the Capitals’ center depth chart with Dylan Strome entrenched in the top spot.  Accordingly, the Jets were among the teams to inquire about his services; Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press relays that there was chatter at the draft that the two sides discussed a McMichael swap.

Winnipeg tried several internal options to serve as their second center behind Mark Scheifele last season.  When those didn’t pan out as planned, they moved a first-round pick to Montreal for Sean Monahan in the days leading up to the trade deadline.  While Monahan certainly helped stabilize that spot, the Jets couldn’t retain him in unrestricted free agency as he ultimately inked a five-year, $27.5MM contract with Columbus.

GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has since been unable to fill that role so as things stand, the internal options from last season (Cole Perfetti, Vladislav Namestnikov, and even Adam Lowry moving up from the third line) remain the choices to play behind Scheifele.  Accordingly, it’s fair to suggest that Winnipeg is still on the lookout for help down the middle.

McMichael would be an interesting target on that front.  The 23-year-old was a first-round pick by the Capitals back in 2019, going 25th overall.  After spending most of 2021-22 in the NHL (when Winnipeg head coach Scott Arniel was an assistant in Washington), McMichael spent most of 2022-23 in the minors with AHL Hershey before playing a full-time role with the Caps last season.  He got into 80 games with them, picking up 18 goals and 15 assists in just under 16 minutes a night of playing time.  McMichael struggled at the faceoff dot though, winning just 42.4% of his draws.

With two years left on a bridge deal at a $2.1MM price tag, McMichael is someone who could fit on Winnipeg’s books.  The team currently has just over $5.8MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, with Perfetti currently being a restricted free agent.  If they went with a bridge deal for him, they should be able to afford both of them without needing to make any corresponding move to clear money.

Having said that, while McMichael is a good fit for Winnipeg, it’s less clear as to why Washington would consider moving him.  While Dubois and his $8.5MM price tag would get the early nod ahead of McMichael down the middle, both players have also spent time on the wing in the NHL.  It’s quite conceivable that head coach Spencer Carbery could elect to put one of those two on the wing, ensuring that both play in the top six.

With the moves they’ve made this summer, ones that brought in Dubois, Andrew Mangiapane, Jakob Chychrun, and Matt Roy, it’s fair to say that GM Chris Patrick and Director of Hockey Operations Brian MacLellan envision the Capitals getting back to the playoffs so subtracting McMichael from their roster would run counter to that idea at this point of the summer.  They sit well over the cap right now on paper but Nicklas Backstrom is expected to remain on LTIR while T.J. Oshie could land there as well which would get them back into compliance so they’re not in a spot where they necessarily need to free up cap space.

Back at the draft, free agency was approaching and there were several centers on the open market so a futures-based return could have worked in theory, knowing there were options about to become available to replace him.  (Speculatively, Rutger McGroarty, who has been in plenty of trade speculation lately, could have been a fit in a trade at that time.)  But those free agents have since landed elsewhere and there isn’t a great McMichael replacement remaining.  Accordingly, it stands to reason that they’d want an NHL-level asset in return which could complicate things if discussions were to get rekindled.

With their second center position needing to be addressed again, Cheveldayoff and the Jets are undoubtedly considering all their options.  McMichael would have been an interesting one back at the draft but now, a move involving him looks less feasible so they’ll likely have turned their focus elsewhere.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

Washington Capitals| Winnipeg Jets Connor McMichael

Predators’ Depth Pieces Will Sway Stanley Cup Aspirations
Main
International Notes: Malkin, Gusev, Sustr, Maillet, Kiselevich, O’Regan
View Comments (5)

Comments

  1. stu18germanator

    12 months ago

    McMichael for McGroarty would be good for both clubs IMO. Jets get a Canadian kid who can play right away and the Caps get cap space and the guy with the higher ceiling IMO.

    2
    Reply
    • Samb99

      12 months ago

      Caps have plenty of cap space. No one trades a young C that is established for a potential W with issues.

      Reply
  2. Johnny Z

    12 months ago

    McMichael + 2nd for Ehlers.

    Reply
    • Pearlo

      12 months ago

      Would probably take a first

      Reply
  3. Pearlo

    12 months ago

    Could have been looking at an Ehlers trade

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Blackhawks, Arvid Söderblom Avoid Arbitration With Two-Year Deal

    Carter Hart, Others Found Not Guilty In Hockey Canada Sexual Assault Trial

    Sharks, Avalanche Swap Daniil Gushchin, Oskar Olausson

    Islanders Sign Maxim Tsyplakov To Two-Year Deal

    Hurricanes Sign Jackson Blake To Eight-Year Extension

    Kraken Sign Kaapo Kakko To Three-Year Contract

    Arbitration Schedule For Remaining Cases Finalized

    Flyers’ Porter Martone Commits To Michigan State University

    Hockey Canada Announces Coaching Staff For 2026 Winter Olympics

    Alex Ovechkin, Capitals Haven’t Had Extension Talks

    Recent

    East Notes: Blake, Red Wings, Prokhorov

    Oilers Looking To Add Top-Six Help

    Blues Re-Sign Nikita Alexandrov

    Blackhawks, Arvid Söderblom Avoid Arbitration With Two-Year Deal

    Ducks Loan Damian Clara, Lucas Pettersson To Brynäs IF

    Rangers Sign Conor Sheary To PTO

    Free Agent Profile: Joel Kiviranta

    Carter Hart, Others Found Not Guilty In Hockey Canada Sexual Assault Trial

    Sharks, Avalanche Swap Daniil Gushchin, Oskar Olausson

    Snapshots: Tsyplakov, Knyzhov, Phillips

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Mammoth Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • 2025’s Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents
    • Sam Bennett Rumors
    • Nikolaj Ehlers Rumors
    • Mitch Marner Rumors
    • Marco Rossi Rumors

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    • Support Pro Hockey Rumors And Go Ad-Free
    • 2025 Free Agent Focus Series
    • 2025 Offseason Checklist Series
    • 2025 NHL Free Agent List
    • 2026 NHL Free Agent List
    • Active Roster Tracker
    • Coaching Staff Directory
    • Draft Pick Tracker 2025
    • Key Offseason Dates
    • Offseason Trade Tracker
    • Pro Hockey Rumors On X
    • Pro Hockey Rumors Polls
    • Waiver Claims 2024-25

     

     

     

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Commenting Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version