Trades are and all the time have been part of the professional sporting panorama. Hockey is a sport, however on the NHL degree, it’s additionally a enterprise. And at their very root, trades are basically enterprise selections.
Not all trades are created equally although. Some barely register or are consigned to what the previous newspapers set into agate kind, and a few are blockbusters that come out of nowhere to ship a jolt. Most fall someplace between.
Today, the Caps made a type of trades that fall someplace between. But to many in these elements, at present’s information of Nic Dowd being dealt to Vegas packed a wallop.
With Friday’s 3 pm NHL commerce deadline looming, Washington was seen as a staff on the fence so far as being a purchaser or a vendor in the hours main as much as the deadline. The Caps awakened on Thursday as a type of thriller groups that might go both method. But earlier than taking the ice for an non-obligatory apply session on Thursday, the Caps had been surprised to be taught that Dowd is off to Sin City in trade for AHL goaltender Jesper Vikman, Vegas’ second-round decide in the 2029 NHL Draft and San Jose’s third-round alternative – beforehand acquired by Vegas – in the 2027 NHL Draft.
Dowd was in the center of his eighth season with Washington and he not too long ago surpassed the 500-games plateau in a Caps sweater. Signed as an unrestricted free agent eight summers in the past – weeks after Washington hoisted the Stanley Cup in Vegas – Dowd got here to the Caps on a one-year deal at what was a League-minimum wage of $650,000 in these days.
In the eight seasons since, the Hunstville, Ala. native progressively constructed himself into one of many League’s high shutdown/backside six facilities. His offensive manufacturing and his ice time each elevated nearly yearly as his position and his duties grew as effectively, and as he grew to become a crucial a part of the material of the staff and the franchise.
Today, Dowd grew to become the primary participant not drafted by the Caps to play eight or extra seasons right here earlier than being traded away since Brooks Laich, who was dealt to Toronto on Feb. 28, 2016, simply over a decade in the past. Laich had worn a Washington uniform for elements of a dozen seasons when he was moved to the Maple Leafs in a deal for Daniel Winnik.
Today’s commerce has among the Caps considering again to numerous video games at numerous factors of the season, and video games that received away from them, video games they might have and may have gained, however didn’t. If one or two or three of these video games end up in another way, perhaps the Caps are in the playoff image, and at present’s deal doesn’t go down. A right-handed shutdown middle who can kill penalties corresponding to Dowd is a helpful postseason piece.
Washington is just 4 factors off the tempo for the ultimate playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, however with simply 19 video games remaining on the season, the Caps even have the shortest runway remaining of any of the playoff contenders.
When gamers exit the door as a substitute of coming in on the deadline, it’s solely pure to look again wistfully on the earlier 63 video games and a few outcomes that might have been completely different, if solely. There had been a pair of losses to lowly Vancouver. There had been a few video games in which third interval leads slipped away.
For one participant, it was Washington’s most up-to-date sport, a 3-2 loss to Utah on Tuesday.
“One of my first thoughts coming in this morning when I heard the news was what if we won against Utah?” says Caps ahead Hendrix Lapierre. “Would it have been completely different? You by no means know. And it makes you consider that stretch in December and January the place you’re in the canine days, and also you may lose one or two. And whenever you come in right here this morning, it sort of reminds you of that, and what if we gained that sport in opposition to that staff, or no matter.
“It sucks; it’s terrible. I think everyone’s on the same page when it comes to that. He was appreciated by everyone. You rethink if you had scored on a certain opportunity. It’s weird to say, but my chance in the slot against Utah, what if I score? And maybe not; maybe the decision was already done. But when you lose a friend like that, it makes you rethink a couple of things.”
Over the final eight years, Dowd – initially a seventh-round decide of the Los Angeles Kings in the 2009 NHL Draft – progressively turned that one-year “show me” pact right into a affluent NHL profession, as he carved out a bigger position and grew his sport and his profession and fortunately signed three extra contract extensions – all for a number of seasons – to remain in the place the place he and spouse Paige made a house and started their rising household.
Today, as Dowd departed the District, solely three teammates – captain Alex Ovechkin and alternate captains John Carlson and Tom Wilson – have been on the Washington roster repeatedly for longer. And Dowd departs as certainly one of simply 34 gamers in franchise historical past to play no less than 500 video games in a Washington sweater, a distinction he achieved earlier this season.
When Caps coach Spencer Carbery held his post-practice media scrum on Thursday morning, he began off by addressing the Dowd deal earlier than he may even be requested about it.
“I’ll just start,” says Carbery. “[It’s a] really difficult day for our organization, our team, players, staff, Nic Dowd being traded after seven years. I spent myself the last three years [with him]. A difficult, difficult decision as an organization, and one that I’m sure was not taken lightly whatsoever, and so it’s a tough day. He has meant a lot to this team, he has meant a lot to this community, him and his family. He’s done so much for this team, and a lot of the work and the things that he has done have gone unnoticed, the way that he plays and the role that he plays. So he’ll be missed, and it’s just part of one of the unfortunate parts of professional sports and this business, of saying goodbye to good people. And that’s part of it.”
Carbery was then requested what sort of participant the Golden Knights can be getting.
“He’s just such a valuable player in so many different ways,” says Carbery. “And I feel that one of the best ways to understand Nic Dowd is simply to ask his teammates about him. That’s one of the best ways, as a result of they’ll inform you precisely what it means. And when it is all mentioned and finished – and I instructed him this perhaps on the finish of final yr – the tough assignments and deployment and the penalty kill and all of the exhausting elements of the sport that he takes such satisfaction in, and I’m certain goes to do a unbelievable job for Vegas. And I [told him], the way it pertains to [Ovechkin] final season, proper?
‘[Ovechkin] what breaks the file, and I mentioned, ‘Dowder, when your profession is over, you are going to have the ability to replicate – and doubtless nobody will speak about it – however you deserve a variety of credit score for O’s file and what you probably did for him. And you may go like, Why? You began 275 occasions in the defensive zone, so Alex Ovechkin may begin in the offensive zone tenfold.
“And think of how many goals were scored because of that, because this team and this organization was able to deploy you in the defensive zone consistently and give you a tough Auston Matthews match up, or a Jack Eichel match up. And you not only flourished in that matchup and did such a good job, but you loved it and embraced it and didn’t complain and didn’t say one iota about not starting or getting an opportunity to start in the offensive zone.’ So yeah, Vegas and the Vegas players will learn to appreciate that.”
Like Carbery mentioned, one of the best ways to understand Nic Dowd is to ask his teammates about him. Washington’s post-practice locker room is usually boisterous after a apply, however not at present. A noticeable pall permeated the room on Thursday morning, and several other of Dowd’s former teammates shared their ideas on the information.
Dylan Strome
“We’re just thinking about him and his family, and the challenges ahead. He is a guy that’s been here obviously my whole time here, and he has been a great friend of mine ever since I first walked in here, and we only got closer throughout my time here. So yeah, it’s disappointing to see him go, and to think how valuable he was to our team. This one feels a little different, just because how big of a part he was to our team and how long he’s been here. It’s hard to process that right now, but he’s a great human being, great dad, great family man. The guy spends countless practices after the year taking care of underprivileged kids and kids with disabilities, and he is just a good human being that Vegas is lucky to have. Today is a day where I think it’s okay to feel emotions and feel upset; it’s a tough part of the game. But [Friday] we’ll get back on the horse and focus in on what we’ve got to do to beat Boston.”
Brandon Duhaime
“I don’t think anyone in the organization feels too good about it. Just an absolute class act and an incredible teammate. I had the privilege of being his teammate for a year and a half, and you see the stuff he does on the ice and how much he helped me on the ice, but just the person he was off the ice and just a lot of valuable life lessons I’ve learned from him. Whether it was the way he carried himself around staff and fans and all that, he just exemplifies exactly what a leader is and what a teammate is, a father, a husband. He just checks all the boxes. And what a privilege it was to be able to take the ice with him.”
Trevor van Riemsdyk
“I don’t think anyone saw that coming. He’s a big part of this team. He does so much for us, all of the little things – [defensive] zone draws, penalty kills. He is the leader in both those aspects, so to lose a guy like that is obviously incredibly sad. He is a great teammate and family man, he does a ton for the community here in DC. It won’t just be the be the people in this room; I think a lot of people will be missing Nic Dowd.”
Charlie Lindgren
“Obviously, it’s really sad. I had the chance now to play with Dowder – this was my fifth year playing with him, my fourth year with the Caps, and one year at St. Cloud – and he is just one of the best guys. He’s what this Capitals organization is all about. He couldn’t have represented it better. Such a phenomenal guy, phenomenal teammate, and a phenomenal hockey player. He has an amazing family. So, it sucks when you see that, when you hear about it, and you could just feel in the rink today. Guys are really bummed out. It’s tough to lose a guy like that, obviously, you realize pretty quickly it’s a business and you’ve got to move forward. But we’re going to miss Nic Dowd a ton.”
Hendrix Lapierre
“Obviously, it’s hard. We weren’t expecting it, to be honest with you. You’re never too sure what’s going to happen or what they’re thinking. So yeah, we were really surprised coming in here this morning. Obviously Dowder has been a part of this team for I think seven years now, and he truly embraced what it was to be a Capital. It’s a sad day obviously for us; he was appreciated by everyone and his family was appreciated by everyone. I know he’ll do extremely well in Vegas. He’s incredible, so detailed. Honestly, it’s just a very sad day for the Caps’ organization.”
It’s a tragic day for these of us who cowl this staff, too. There aren’t any unhealthy guys in the Washington room, however few are as analytical and as eloquent at expressing themselves in phrases, and fewer have traveled the highway Dowd traveled to achieve the NHL as simply the fourth Alabama native – and the primary one to attain a aim for the reason that Nineteen Forties – to ascend to the world’s high hockey League.
Since the very first time I spoke with him in September of 2018, he has been a go-to man for many people as a result of he can converse to so many facets and components of the sport, and he does so earnestly and truthfully. He might be missed by us as effectively.
The NHL commerce deadline is a nerve-racking time of yr throughout the League. Some groups are searching for the piece or two that can put them excessive in their quest for a Stanley Cup whereas others wish to derive some worth from belongings which are on the verge of expiring contracts or depreciation, one other enterprise time period.
Players are on edge, questioning in the event that they and their households may immediately discover themselves on the transfer. It’s not all the time apparent which groups are shopping for and that are promoting both, so gamers are sometimes hopeful their staff is one that’s including somewhat than subtracting forward of the deadline.
Today’s Dowd deal would appear to point that the Caps are promoting, however we’ll see between now and three pm Friday what else Washington may need on the fireplace.
Caps common supervisor Chris Patrick was capable of get a pair of high half of the draft picks for Dowd, which is superb return for a participant who was initially drafted in the seventh spherical, who signed for the League minimal and who is actually a self-made participant – top-of-the-line in the League at his position and his place – going into the ultimate season of his contract.
This season’s emergence of rookie right-handed middle Justin Sourdif – and the play of first-year professional Ilya Protas at AHL Hershey – helped make Dowd expendable, and it will have been exhausting for Washington to show down that deal, given its present place in the standings. And as soon as the season is over and the NHL Draft is looming, groups sometimes grow to be a lot much less reluctant to half with picks, particularly in the primary three rounds.
So whereas one can see the “why” of the deal, it’s going to by no means be simple to say goodbye to a participant corresponding to Dowd who exemplifies the whole lot the Caps search for in a participant. Great teammate, nice human, nice dad, nice husband, nice participant.
This season’s deadline is seen as a patrons’ market, and the worth for Dowd would appear to again that up. Three years in the past when Washington moved Lars Eller to Colorado on the deadline, they received a second-round decide in return. This time round, they received a further third-round alternative, plus the minor league netminder.
Dowd turns 36 in May, and he has one yr left on a two-year contract extension he signed final April, the fourth contract he signed with Washington, and the one which lastly pushed his wage above that of the participant he changed in Washington – Jay Beagle – seven years earlier.
Beginning with the lockout-truncated 2012-13 season, Beagle was the Caps’ fourth-line middle for a span of six seasons – he was a part-timer in the NHL previous to that – and Dowd has been manning the center of Washington’s fourth or third line since.
Beagle was signed – initially to an AHL degree take care of Hershey – as a university free agent, and he spent over a decade with the Washington group. Dowd was signed as an unrestricted free agent, and the Caps received 977 video games value of yeoman’s work from that duo from the day of Beagle’s NHL debut – Feb. 11, 2009 – to Dowd’s last sport on Tuesday in opposition to Utah.
Speaking of which, they are saying that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. March is nothing like Nic Dowd. Dowd got here to DC as a lion, and he goes out as a lion. Dowd performed his last sport as a Capital on Tuesday in opposition to Utah, and he was credited with 10 hits in that contest, probably the most he has ever logged in 637 profession video games in the NHL, the final 506 of which had been with Washington.
Vegas picked up an ideal human, an ideal participant and nearly definitely added just a few extra new short-term Golden Knights followers from this space. All the most effective from us right here in DC to Nic Dowd and his household.
