The Seattle Kraken have traded forward Marcus Johansson to the Washington Capitals in exchange for Daniel Sprong and draft picks to be announced soon. The 31-year-old was originally drafted by Washington back in 2009 and played seven seasons with the Caps before being dealt to New Jersey for a second and third-round pick.
Johansson was selected in the expansion draft by the Seattle Kraken and proved to be a decent depth pick-up, who managed to score six goals with 17 assists for 23 points in 51 games for the Kraken; good for 8th in team scoring. Seattle has been busy leading up to the deadline, trading away Jeremy Lauzon, Mark Giordano, Colin Blackwell, Mason Appleton, and Calle Jarnkrok all over the past several days. The Kraken have acquired over eight draft picks, with Sprong being the lone player added during this fire sale. It is clear that Seattle has taken this team into full rebuild mode, a move that makes perfect sense for a team that was never built to contend as an expansion team like the Vegas Golden Knights. Sprong is a bottom-six forward that is consistent with the rebuilding vision being over five years younger than Johansson.
From a Capitals perspective, they add a veteran bottom-six winger that provides some experience to the forward-depth for a playoff run. While the price tag for Johansson isn’t high, he has not been without some struggles this season. His underlying numbers have not been particularly strong, although at least a part of that may be because he was forced to play a bigger role in Seattle than he was capable of. It will be interesting to see if going back to an organization that he is familiar with, where he doesn’t have to play a significant role, can help him settle in quickly and allow him to make a positive impact on this group.
