Capitals trade Brenden Dillon to Jets for two second-round picks

The Washington Capitals have traded defenseman Brenden Dillon to the Winnipeg Jets for two second-round draft picks. The Capitals officially announced they will receive the Jets’ 2022 and 2023 second-round picks.

Trading Dillon is the Capitals’ first step to addressing their salary cap crunch. Washington clears Dillon’s $3.9 million off their books. They now have just over $13.6 million of cap space following the trade, according to Cap Friendly.

Dillon gives the Jets a much-needed top-six defenseman. According to Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun, the Jets were trying to land former Caps defenseman Nate Schmidt from the Vancouver Canucks. However, Schmidt would not waive his modified no-trade clause despite multiple attempts by Winnipeg.

Dillon joined the Capitals in February 2020 in a trade from the San Jose Sharks after six seasons there. After a disappointing end to the 2019-20 season, he signed a four-year, $15.6 million extension with the Capitals last October.

With the Capitals, Dillon appeared in 66 games. He had 17 assists and two goals with a plus-13 rating.

Meanwhile, the Capitals needed to clear space to re-sign their captain Alex Ovechkin, who is a pending free agent. GM Brian MacLellan says he is “hopeful” a deal will be finalized before the start of free agency Wednesday.

Washington also may have the ability to re-sign restricted free agent goalie Ilya Samsonov. The team extended a qualifying offer to him along with young defenseman Lucas Johansen. They lost goalie Vitek Vanecek to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft, leaving a huge hole at netminder for the Capitals.