Avalanche acquire F Eller from Capitals
Published
The Washington Capitals have traded forward Lars Eller to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a 2025 second-round pick.
Eller has seven goals and 16 points in 60 games this season. He is a pending unrestricted free agent, carrying a cap hit of $3.5 million.
The Capitals are retaining 31 per cent - or $1.085 million - of Eller's cap hit in the trade.
The 33-year-old is a veteran of 930 NHL games, with 160 goals and 364 points in his career. Selected 13th overall by the Blues in the 2007 NHL Draft, Eller has spent time with St. Louis, the Montreal Canadiens and Capitals.
He won the Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2018.
Capitals stay busy
The Capitals have been very active ahead of the trade deadline, with a series of trades kicked off by moving Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to the Boston Bruins last week.
Washington made two trades on Tuesday, acquiring Rasmus Sandin from the Toronto Maple Leafs for Erik Gustafsson and a first-round pick, and sending Marcus Johansson to the Minnesota Wild.
The Capitals are without a third-round pick in this year's draft, but have three in the 2024 draft. The team is also without a 2024 second-round pick but now have three in the second-round of the 2025 draft after Wednesday's trade.
The Capitals are currently five points back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Eastern Conference's final wild-card spot and six points back of the New York Islanders for the top wild-card spot, with two games in hand.