Overview
- Patrick said Washington is actively pursuing an addition and identified a higher‑end skilled winger as the club's biggest need.
- He described a tight market with few sellers and cautioned that prices tend to rise the longer teams wait to make deals.
- Patrick reiterated the organization will not move its top young players, with prospects such as Cole Hutson, Ilya Protas and Andrew Cristall considered off limits.
- The GM said he has not had substantive talks with Alex Ovechkin about retirement, noting the 40‑year‑old is focused on this season after reaching the 20‑goal mark again.
- With the New York Rangers announcing a retool and a New York Post report linking Artemi Panarin to a potential trade search, Washington projects about $12.78 million in deadline cap space, per PuckPedia.