Capitals let Ivan Miroshnichenko shop himself

Spencer Carbery got asked about it right away, and he didn't have a bad word to say about the kid.

Tarik El-Bashir

@Tarik_ElBashir

Asked Spencer Carbery about Ivan Miroshnichenko, who has been granted permission to speak to other teams, per @FriedgeHNIC. Miro has suited up for 3 of #ALLCAPS’ first 10 games, scoring a goal. “He’s been fantastic this year,” Carbery said. “I’ve been really, really impressed and proud of the way that he’s come in—great shape, good camp, have loved the way, even out of the lineup, how he’s come to the rink every day. Coachable. Working his butt off. Doing extra things. Being a good teammate. Trying to have enthusiasm and positivity even in a difficult situation when you’re not playing (because) it can be frustrating and it can be negative. Not at all. And that’s been really impressive to me. “Then he gets an opportunity to get in and I thought he did a good job with the 3 games that he played. It’s a little bit of circumstance that he comes out…I know I can speak for the coaches: we like him, we have a deep forward group and when we get healthy it sorta pushes him out, which is no fault of his because I felt like, again, he did well in the games that he played. Now it’s about staying ready for when inevitably—knock on wood, hopefully not—but you guys know how an 84-game NHL season works so that next opportunity just take advantage of it and that hopefully snowballs and turns into 10, 20, 30 games for him because we like what he did in those first 3 games.”

That is a coach describing a guy who did everything right and still can't get in the lineup. Miroshnichenko has 1 goal in his 3 games this year. The rest of the time he's been a healthy scratch, showing up every day and working out with no game at the end of it. Nobody is calling this a discipline thing or an effort thing. It's a numbers thing.

Carbery said it about as plainly as a coach can: when Washington is healthy, there isn't a spot for him.

Sammi Silber 🏒

@sammisilber

Spencer Carbery on Ivan Miroshnichenko, who’s reportedly been granted permission to explore potential trade opportunities per Elliotte Friedman: “I can speak for the coaches. We like him… when we get healthy, it sort of pushes him out. Which is no fault of his.”

Some background on how it got here. Washington took Miroshnichenko 20th overall in 2022, and he has bounced between Washington and the AHL ever since. He's put up 14 points in 55 NHL games across 4 seasons and has never had more than 6 in a single year, even though he scored 42 points in 53 AHL games in 2024-25. Last Halloween the Caps signed him to a 2-year extension at $925K a year, and he's in the first season of that deal now. That's a cheap cap hit for a 22-year-old winger, which is why this is a trade and not a release.

Waivers aren't on the table either. Per Friedman, Washington knows Miroshnichenko would get claimed right away, so the Caps want a real return for him. Friedman also said there's quite a bit of interest around the league and compared his value to the Egor Chinakhov trade, when Columbus sent Chinakhov to Pittsburgh for Danton Heinen plus a 2nd and a 3rd. If that's the market, a mid-round pick or a depth piece is about where this lands.

That seems right to us. A 22-year-old former first-rounder on a sub-$1M deal, with a coach on record calling him coachable and a good teammate, is exactly the low-risk flyer a rebuilding team or a team short on wingers should want. He probably needs a fresh start more than he needs another month in the press box. Watch for teams with open spots on the wing and spare picks to come calling, and don't expect it to take long now that Friedman has made it public.