In 2018-19, the writing was on the wall for Matt Niskanen. That offseason, the Washington Capitals traded him to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Radko Gudas. In 2019-20, the defense didn’t get any better. In fact, it got worse. Now in this offseason, the Caps will likely move another defenseman and the likely player to go out is Dmitry Orlov.
There are other defenseman likely to be traded. We highlighted some of those players here. Other options include Michal Kempny and Nick Jensen, both having underproduced this season.