It's Time for the Caps to Make a Trade

The NHL trading deadline (and the end of February) is quickly approaching and teams around the league are starting to make their moves. Just in the past week or so, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning have upgraded their squads -- but the Washington Capitals have yet to budge.

GM George McPhee is very calculated, but this is the year to take a risk. He's got a roster that has a glaring need at the center position, especially with the potential injury to Nicklas Backstrom. Coach Bruce Boudreau's new two-way playing style has started to pay dividends, but McPhee himself said he's disappointed with the team's performance thusfar.

With today's re-signing of Matt Hendricks, McPhee showed his belief in the current style of play, but it's evident that he need needs more troops. Some argue that it's time to finally trade Alex Semin -- something that I've been in promoting for a long time.

Over the last few weeks, McPhee and Boudreau are starting to change the culture and remake the team (mid-season) into one that can succeed playing postseason hockey. But without more scoring (believe it or not), especially from the center position, this team won't have enough ammunition to fulfill their goal of winning the franchise's first Stanley Cup.

Since he's been GM, McPhee's Caps have won four postseason series -- three of which came during the team's 1998 run to the Stanley Cup finals (the only time the Caps have gone that deep in the playoffs). The other victory occurred in 2009 over the New York Rangers (after falling behind 3-1), but that was marred by the subsequent game seven collapse to the Penguins.

In order to properly prepare for a sustained postseason run, and help the Caps win a series in less than seven games, McPhee needs to take a risk. This team could be primed for something special -- but most likely not as currently constructed. It's time for GMGM to lay all of his cards out on the table -- and show everybody that he'll do something more than just tweaking the roster.

That would be the biggest statement thus far that this year's Caps truly have turned a corner after previous debacles.