{"id":26175,"date":"2025-06-30T03:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T03:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/26175\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T03:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T03:56:08","slug":"chris-patrick-on-adding-declan-chisholm-to-capitals-defense-corps-i-think-it-just-gives-us-a-lot-of-options-during-this-offseason-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/26175\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Patrick on adding Declan Chisholm to Capitals\u2019 defense corps: \u2018I think it just gives us a lot of options during this offseason here\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Capitals made a trade on the second day of the 2025 NHL Draft, bringing in 25-year-old defenseman Declan Chisholm<\/strong> from the Minnesota Wild<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The move gives the Caps another young option on their blueline heading into the 2025-26 season and sheds some light on what the team\u2019s top brass believes their roster could look like moving forward. General manager Chris Patrick<\/strong> met with the media on Saturday and discussed where he believes Chisholm will fit and the rationale behind acquiring him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, [he\u2019s] a guy who we can have a little control over the contract here, because he\u2019s an RFA,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cWe wanted to address our defensive depth this offseason, and if you go into the free agent market, you don\u2019t have control over the costs. We thought this was a good chance to try to do that. We like where he\u2019s trending as a player. Again, another guy that\u2019s the right age, and I think he\u2019s got a real good opportunity here to continue to build on what he was doing in Minnesota.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chisholm, a fifth-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets in 2018, played 66 games for the Wild last season. He recorded 12 points (2g, 10a) and the Wild were excellent at five-on-five during his minutes, seeing 51.1 percent of shot attempts, 53.9 percent of expected goals, 51.5 percent of scoring chances, and 55.7 percent of high-danger chances.<\/p>\n

The Capitals now have nine defenders on their NHL roster under some level of team control, with Chisholm and Alex Alexeyev being restricted free agents. Included in that group of nine are all six of the club\u2019s regular defensemen from last season, set to return for next year.<\/p>\n

Patrick would not commit<\/a> to tendering Alexeyev a qualifying offer this summer, which likely indicates that the 2018 first-round pick is headed for unrestricted free agency and a new team. He also seems to be already referring to Chisholm as the team\u2019s seventh defenseman, which suggests that Dylan McIlrath may be last on the NHL depth chart or potentially headed back to the AHL\u2019s Hershey Bears if he can clear waivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s an area that you can always improve on,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cIt\u2019s a hard area. Having seven really good D means you have a really good defenseman that\u2019s not happy, but I think it just gives us a lot of options during this offseason here. We were glad we were able to get him, and he\u2019s really excited to come here. He sees where our organization is going, and he\u2019s ready to be part of something special.\u201d<\/p>\n

The assertion that the trade gives Patrick \u201coptions\u201d this offseason is also interesting. Chisholm graduated to a nearly full-time NHL role with the Wild last year, but the Capitals already have a locked down left side of their defense with Jakob Chychrun signed through the 2029-30 season, Rasmus Sandin signed through the 2028-29 season, and Martin Fehervary likely engaged in long-term extension talks this summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Patrick mentioned last month<\/a> that the team might be interested in taking a \u201creally big hack\u201d on a player this offseason and expressed a desire to add another high-skilled forward. With prices of the big-name UFAs expected to be very high given the rising salary cap environment<\/a>, the Capitals could delve back into the trade market if the right deal materializes. They could trade from a position of strength, like the left side of their defense, to fill a hole elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The Capitals have now made two trades in the last week, acquiring both Chisholm and Justin Sourdif. Patrick revealed that targeting soon-to-be cash-strapped teams for their pending RFAs is a calculated strategy. The Caps inked Sourdif to a two-year deal<\/a> and still need to come to terms on a new contract for Chisholm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last month, I\u2019m talking to every GM and asking what they\u2019re doing,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cAnd before that, I\u2019m talking with our hockey ops staff, and we\u2019re identifying potential guys that aren\u2019t free agents that might be a fit for the team. So yeah, so those names come up, and then you get calls back on them or you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to PuckPedia<\/a>, with Sourdif on the roster, the Capitals are left with $8.55 million in cap space. The total will go down further once the details of Chisholm\u2019s inevitable contract are revealed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Capitals made a trade on the second day of the 2025 NHL Draft, bringing in 25-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-26175","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114770305572101776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}