McKenzie: Caps' Green could be trade deadline rental

Bob McKenzie was on TSN 1050 Monday afternoon.

On Mike Green as a possible trade target between now and the trade deadline:

“Well, a lot of it depends on how the Caps are doing. I mean, if they’re a playoff team they may want to keep him around because he’s got a dynamic offensive element to his game, especially on the power play.

“But, I mean, if they’re outside of the playoff picture and he’s a $6 million a year player and he’s unrestricted at the end of the year – unless they negotiate a more cap-friendly number for a player of that stature – then he would definitely be an interesting rental for a team that thinks, if they have the cap room to add that much money for the balance of the season, he could really make a huge difference on a power play. And especially on a team where their defense is engrained enough that he has to elevate his play to that level, as opposed to being asked to carry the load.

“A lot of it will really depend on Washington. What their plans are vis-à-vis contracts. What Green expects to get money-wise.

“The interesting thing about Green is that because they added Niskanen and because they added Orpik, and they broke up Carlson and Alzner, and they’ve been able to pair up one those guys quite often with Alzner and Carlson – Green has been sheltered much better than he has in the past. Historically he would, at the very least, get the second-best offensive unit from the other team. Especially on the road. Quite often the best offensive line from the other team. But now that they’ve got different pairings and more depth on the blueline, he’s getting a lot more favorable matchups. And his minutes are down, but that’s probably a good thing because he’s not getting chewed up defensively in those extra minutes that he’s not on.”

Source: TSN 1050/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey