Washington Capitals looking to trade veteran forward

It looks like the 3rd line center job in Washington may be up for grabs, as the Capitals are trying to move veteran Center, Lars Eller. With Connor McMichael being promoted, Eller may be on the way out of the organization.

Eller's current cap hit is $3.5 Million, for this year while McMichael's upside is yet to be found, and has a cheaper cap hit at $863K a year.

This is unfortunate for Eller, whose been a part of the Stanley Cup-winning team as well. The Capitals currently have an abundance of Centers, after adding Dylan Strome and Henrik Borgstrom.

With Nicklas Backstrom and Carl Hagelin out, you would think this would complicate things more, however, this isn't the case as McMichael may be better than Eller based on some statistics:

Looking at the two head-to-head, McMichael had the stronger advanced statistics at 5-on-5. His expected goals-for percentage of 56.45 led all skaters with at least 40 games played, while Eller ranked fourth-to-last among forwards (48.49). McMichael also had a better shots-for percentage (53.90) and scoring chances-for percentage (54.12) than Eller at 5-on-5 (50.70, 48.65). At all strengths, McMichael also has the upper hand over Eller, also possessing a better Corsi-for percentage and goals-for percentage.

Losing Eller would mean, losing a Penalty-Kill specialist, a solid back-checker, who isn't afraid to throw the body, accumulating 95 hits last season.

Previously on Bladeofsteel

New York Rangers forward finally gets clean bill of health, making way for return to team

Winnipeg Jets make an exciting announcement involving Teemu Selanne

Kyle Dubas has finally had enough, calls out one of his players agents

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17 AOUT \| 105 ANSWERS Washington Capitals looking to trade veteran forward Will the Capitals make the playoffs this year?
Yes, as a wild card	49	46.7 %
No, they'll miss the playoffs	33	31.4 %
Yes, in the top 3 in the Metropolitan Division	23	21.9 %
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