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Washington Capitals: 5 best trades in franchise history

By Dave Stevenson

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 12: T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals drinks a beer through his jersey during the Washington Capitals Victory Parade and Rally on June 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 12: T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals drinks a beer through his jersey during the Washington Capitals Victory Parade and Rally on June 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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Washington Capitals
Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images /

You can’t tell the story of the Washington Capitals without appreciating how terrific they’ve been at trades. Let’s take a look at their five best. 

The Washington Capitals have finally won the Stanley Cup. But throughout their 40+ years of existence, they’ve been really great at one thing – trades. Whenever the Caps have been consistently good (which has been quite often), there’s been at least one or two trades responsible for it.

One trade quite literally saved the Caps, for, without it, they’d probably be in Kansas City, or somewhere other than Washington, DC. Another two helped them win a Stanley Cup. Yet more netted them consistent contributors for virtually nothing.

There’s only one rule – they have to include a player. Hindsight will be used liberally, so be prepared. Let’s get started with some of the trades that deserve to be mentioned, but just missed the cut.

Cristobal Huet For A Second-Round Pick

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The Rock The Red era for the Capitals unofficially arrived in 2004, when the team drafted Alex Ovechkin. But it’s official arrival was four years later, when they made an amazing playoff run despite dealing with a slow start. Cristobal Huet was a huge part of that, posting a .936 save percentage during the regular season in 13 games.

Semyon Varlamov To The Colorado Avalanche

This trade would have been on this list because it netted them a first-round pick and a second-round pick. The latter eventually helped them land center Mike Ribeiro, who was a great one-year stopgap as a second-line center.

It looked even better after the Capitals drafted Filip Forsberg with the Avalanche’s pick. Too bad they poured gasoline all over the trade and lit it on fire by trading him for Martin Erat and Michael Latta.

Dennis Wideman

The Capitals got defenseman Dennis Wideman from the Florida Panthers back in 2011 for Jake Hauswirth and a third-round pick. An injury to Mike Green made this trade even more vital. Anytime you can get a solid defenseman for nobody meaningful, that’s a pretty good trade. Wideman had an All-Star season with the Caps in 2011-12.

Larry Murphy

Larry Murphy‘s best days came with the Pittsburgh Penguins, sadly. But he gave the Capitals some great years and the Caps only had to give up Ken Houston and Brian Engblom for him. Later, Murphy got traded, along with Mike Gartner, to the Minnesota North Stars for Dino Cicarelli and Bob Rouse.

Sergei Federov

For many Capitals fans, seeing Sergei Federov in a Caps sweater was a dream come true. Even if it was an old Federov who wasn’t in his prime. Before the 2017-18 Capitals won the Stanley Cup, he might have been responsible for the Caps best postseason moment.

Michal Kempny

Hard to argue against a trade that basically saved the Capitals 2017-18 season. The Caps defense was much better with him in the lineup and his addition helped stabilize the blueline.

Dale Hunter

Sure, the Dale Hunter trade involved the draft pick that eventually became Joe Sakic. But Hunter served as the Capitals captain for a long time. For years, he defined the Caps.

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