What Direction The Capitals Plan To Take At The 2024 NHL Draft

LAS VEGAS — The Washington Capitals have some business to take care of at The Sphere.

On Thursday, Washington made another move, acquiring winger Andrew Mangiapane from the Calgary Flames for a second-round pick. And on draft day, they could have more up their sleeve.

Washington is selecting 17th in the 2024 NHL Draft, which is on Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas. All the while, general manager Brian MacLellan and the team are looking to stay aggressive and continue to push to make some moves to improve key areas of the roster.

"I think we're still looking to do more... hopefully, we're going to be aggressive here and improve our roster," MacLellan said.

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When it comes to the 17th overall pick, though, it's off the table; Washington has a handful of names that it is interested in that are expected to be up for grabs. MacLellan said that the team is leaning more toward a defenseman.

"I think it's deepest on defense. The defensemen at the top seem to be pretty good players. There's a section of players at the top that are really good, and then I think it's going to be a little gray as you get closer to us," MacLellan said. "Teams will have guys they like better than other guys, so it might get mixed up a little bit as it approaches our pick. We're excited."

A couple of defensive names to look out for there include Adam Jiricek and Stian Solberg.

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When it comes to more moves down the pipeline, MacLellan said that the Capitals have "quite a bit more flexibility" to work with with the salary cap going up and D.C. owning plenty of draft capital. Talks so far between general managers have been about swapping picks and moving around, but there's also trade talk brewing at the same time.

MacLellan wants to look to change up the defensive core, and also may continue to look at more forward options, though it's unclear if Mangiapane fulfills all the criteria he was looking for.

"Those draft picks are currency, so it gives you more flexibility," MacLellan said. "It gives us more flexibility to make transactions and acquire players."

The draft kicks off at 7 p.m. ET.