The Washington Capitals have traded goaltender Vitek Vanecek and the No. 46 draft pick to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for two draft picks, both sides announced Friday. Washington acquired New Jersey's Nos. 37 and 70 second-round picks in the 2022 NHL Draft.
The Capitals selected Vanecek, 26, in the second round of the 2014 draft. In two seasons, he posted a 41-22-10 record with a 2.68 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage in 79 career games.
Vanecek heads to the Devils, who finished last season at 27-46-9 and seventh in the Metropolitan Division.
The trade comes shortly before Day 2 of the draft kicks off. For more on the NHL Draft, follow The Athletic's live coverage here.
(Photo: Sam Navarro / USA Today)
How does Vanecek fit with the Devils?
Shayna Goldman, Devils beat writer: Seven goaltenders played at least a game for the Devils this past season, and all together they allowed more than 60 goals above expected. So, New Jersey needed to find a better answer in the net for the 2022-23 season.
Vanecek isn’t exactly a game breaker — he earned a .908 save percentage in all situations in 42 games this season and allowed 2.9 goals above expected, according to Evolving-Hockey — but he may be an improvement from what the Devils already had. Then again, the bar is literally on the floor in New Jersey.
The question is what his role will be and who will be sharing the net with him. This could set the Devils up for a tandem of Vanecek and Mackenzie Blackwood, but they may want more security than that duo alone.
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What's the Capitals' motivation for this trade?
Tarik El-Bashir, Capitals beat writer: It had been clear for some time that the Caps did not intend to bring back both Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov after up-and-down 2021-22 seasons. So they needed to offload one to create a roster spot for a yet-to-be-determined No. 1 netminder.
Money also might have influenced the decision; Vanecek and Samsonov are both RFAs with arbitration rights, and Evolving-Hockey projects Vanecek’s next deal to be four years with an AAV of $5.3 million per, while Samsonov is pegged at two years and $3 million.
Now the question is this: Which veteran goalie is the Caps targeting?
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