LAS VEGAS – Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt is the one who got away for the Capitals, the player Washington lost in last year's expansion draft. During Sunday's media day ahead of Monday's Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Vegas General Manager George McPhee revealed Washington attempted to trade for Schmidt immediately after he was swiped.
"We made our selection and then Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan called and asked if there's any way we could do a deal for him to get Schmidt back, and I said, 'I don't see anything, but we'll try to come up with something to give you a chance to say no,' " McPhee said. "So we made a proposal that I didn't think would work, and it didn't work because our guys like Schmidt. So we overreached on the ask, and that's the way it went."
MacLellan said what Vegas asked for Schmidt "didn't make sense." MacLellan might have offered to trade skilled winger Marcus Johansson; the Capitals ultimately dealt him to New Jersey later in the summer because of salary cap constraints. Johansson finished with 24 goals and 34 assists during the 2016-17 season. As Washington's longtime general manager, McPhee would have been especially familiar with the Capitals roster.
Losing Schmidt stung for Washington because the former Gophers and St. Cloud Cathedral player was projected to play in the Capitals' top four defense corps going into this season. With Vegas, he has averaged more than 22 minutes per game, a top-pairing blue-liner who often plays against opponent's top forwards.
"We had just got him to the point, development wise, where he was going to expand his role, and we unfortunately had to lose him," MacLellan said. "We were in a tough situation where we were going to lose someone we liked."
Too late for his liking
Jonathan Marchessault, Vegas' leading scorer in the playoffs, walked off the ice and toward the Golden Knights' dressing room after taking an open-ice check.
Washington's Tom Wilson landed a blindside hit on Marchessault well after he got rid of the puck near center ice.
Wilson was later called for interference against Marchessault after the officials gathered to discuss what happened. David Perron, who had come off Vegas' bench, was penalized for cross-checking Alex Ovechkin during the same stoppage of play 5:53 into the third period.
