A retrospective of the Capitals' T.J. Oshie trade
Of the many trades Brian MacLellan has pulled off as Capitals GM, few might be more consequential than the deal that pried T.J. Oshie away from the St. Louis Blues.
by Tarik El-Bashir | Published on March 15, 2024 | Last Updated on March 15 at 10:52 am
Brian MacLellan has made dozens of trades during his decade as general manager of the Capitals.
It can be argued that none was as consequential as the deal that pried T.J. Oshie away from the St. Louis Blues.
What isn’t up for debate is this: the charismatic goal scorer turned out to be the missing piece for a Washington team that needed something—or, more accurately, someone—to help them get over the proverbial hump.
Oshie proved to be a perfect fit alongside Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, a duo that had long lacked a compatible right wing.
He possessed the ideal skill set for his role on the power play.
With a feisty style of play on the ice and an infectious energy off it, he also became the Caps’ heart and soul almost instantaneously.
Indeed, there is no 2018 Stanley Cup championship without Oshie, who arrived three years earlier in a midsummer swap that sent Troy Brouwer, Pheonix Copley and a third-round draft pick.
So as the 37-year-old closes in on 1,000 NHL games, we’re revisiting that franchise-altering day, as recalled by the people who lived it.
Oshie: I thought I was going to retire a Blue, be one of those guys that’s a lifer.
MacLellan: I had been watching Oshie forever. He’s a Minnesota guy. My wife is from Roseau. So when we’d visit family, I would always pay attention to the (famous high school hockey rivalry) Roseau vs. Warroad.
That’s all people there talked about.
Assistant GM Don Fishman: Mac saw Oshie play a lot. He talked about him, really, for years.
MacLellan: We had been trying to get a right wing to play with O and Backy—like a guy that can legit play.
Fishman: We needed change. St. Louis was the same way; they needed a change, too.
MacLellan: St. Louis had brought his name up a few times. We had interest but it felt like it was never going to happen.
Associate GM Chris Patrick: I remember thinking Osh might be the guy that gets us over the hump for a Stanley Cup.
MacLellan: Then we went to the draft, and it feels like (Blues GM Doug Armstrong) is moving him. I tried to be aggressive on our part because it was a perfect fit in our mind.
Oshie: I was told there was a trade in the works with Pittsburgh at the draft, and that it was almost a done deal.
MacLellan: I was thinking the other team was Boston, to be honest.
Fishman: I don’t know what St. Louis’ ask was of us. Maybe it was our first-round pick?
MacLellan: We went through the draft and we didn’t get it done.
Oshie: I don’t know, it just didn’t happen.
MacLellan: Then we go to free agency and we’re still talking (to the Blues). But now it’s like maybe they’re going to keep him.
Fishman: We were going to lose Joel Ward and Eric Fehr.
MacLellan: So we started going after Justin Williams because we didn’t think we were getting Oshie. And we got Justin Williams that first night.
Patrick: After we got Williams, we were like, ‘We’re good for the season.’
MacLellan: But then the next day, St. Louis called and asked, ‘Are you still interested in Oshie?’
Fishman: These days, it’s all done over text. Back then it was still phone calls.
MacLellan: I said, ‘Yes, we’re still interested.’
Patrick: The next day we come into the office and it’s like, ‘What’s up with this Oshie thing? Is it not dead?’
Fishman: I think St. Louis got a little nervous, like the Caps had filled their hole for a right wing.
MacLellan: We get to the point where Army asks, ‘Will you give me Copley?’
Fishman: Armstrong is a tough negotiator so he wanted an extra pick and he also wanted Copley to close the deal.
Patrick: There was some back-and-forth on which prospect.
MacLellan: I said yes to Copley, and that got it done.
Fishman: Oshie was a slightly higher cap hit than Brouwer but we could make it work.
Oshie: We were staying with my friend. It was a crazy time. We were building a house in Minnesota, in the Twin Cities area. We had a 1-year-old and we were getting married that summer.
I was working out in the basement and I got a phone call.
It was Doug Armstrong.
MacLellan: We exchanged contact information of the guys involved. So he called his guy and I called our guys.
Oshie: Doug asked me how I was doing. I was like, ‘Good.’ He asked me how training was going. I told him I’m working harder than I’ve ever worked, and it was going really well.
Then he just switched. He’s like, all right, well I want to let you know that we traded you to the Washington Capitals and Brian MacLellan, their GM, will be giving you a call.
MacLellan: Those conversations are always tough. Brouwer liked it here; he had built relationships.
Oshie: I think Doug said, ‘Have a good day,’ or something and then hung up.
MacLellan: It’s a little easier in the offseason versus in the season because guys have time to process things and prepare for what’s next.
Oshie: I was pretty pissed off, honestly.
I had poured a lot of heart and soul on the ice at St. Louis, playing through a lot of injuries—broken bones. I had a lot of very, very close friends on the team.
I felt like I had failed. That I let the fans and my teammates down. At the time, you feel like maybe the organization looks at you as being the problem of why the team wasn’t able to jump to the next level.
Oshie: A couple of weeks prior, we had a 30-minute conversation, a pretty long, in-depth conversation. And now I was gone.
He must’ve not liked what I had to say (laughing).
Oshie: I ran upstairs and told my wife. And as I was telling her, Mac called.
MacLellan: He seemed really excited.
Oshie: My emotions flipped quickly. He was very, very excited about me coming to the Capitals.
I went from feeling not wanted at all to wanted a lot.
MacLellan: All the pro guys were in the room.
Patrick: We were pumped. We were just like, ‘Is this too good to be true?’ It was kinda on-and-off for a long time.
Oshie: At the time, it felt like a fairly even trade just because I knew Brouwer from playing against him. He was a good player. And sending a prospect and a pick, too.
So, I felt like Washington musta wanted me.
Fishman: To play right wing for the Washington Capitals back then, it’s like you’ve hit the jackpot.
Oshie: So there was only five minutes of being at an all-time low. I was getting the opportunity to play with Ovi and Backstrom and Carlson, who I knew from the Olympics.
MacLellan: Everyone just finds out; word gets out so quickly now.
Ovechkin: I texted him to say, ‘Welcome!’
Wilson: I didn’t know him at all. Obviously when somebody comes, somebody leaves. So it’s always tough at first. You’re wondering, ‘It’s a trade, what’s going on? Why?’ But in hindsight, his impact was literally overnight.
Oshie: Quite a few guys reached out.
Ovi was one of them. John. Nick. (Matt) Niskanen, who I knew growing up in Minnesota.
Brooks Orpik texted me.
Carlson: I was extremely excited when I found out. I played with him at the Olympics so we were together for two weeks. When you practice with someone you learn a lot about them; you could see that he was a difference maker.
Karl Alzner: I remembered playing against him vividly. Anytime you get a player that’s got name recognition like him, it’s kind of a surprise.
It’s like, ‘No way.’
Ovechkin: I knew about Osh. I saw his skill in the Sochi Games.
Alzner: I remember thinking, ‘Man, he’s really going to help the team. Hopefully he’s a good guy.’
Sometimes things get a little bit stale. It’s not anyone’s fault. Sometimes you just need an injection of life, an injection of different.
As we know now, he completely changed the dynamic.
Oshie: It was a crazy, crazy day. Looking back now, it was honestly the best thing that could have happened to my career.
Patrick: I remember it was late and we hadn’t eaten dinner. So all of us pro scouts and (then head coach Barry Trotz), who was there with us, went over to Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate. It was probably 11:30. They were wiping down the tables, trying to close up shop. And we were like, ‘We’d like as many pitchers of beer and as many wings as we can get right now, please!’
Fishman: It was one of Mac’s best trades. The fans identified with T.J. We re-signed him to a long-term deal. We won a Cup with him. He mentored Tom Wilson.
Patrick: Everything about Osh has played out exactly the way we hoped.