The Washington Capitals lost defenseman Vincent Iorio to a waiver claim by the San Jose Sharks on Thursday afternoon. The club's top pick in the 2021 NHL Draft departs the organization without the Caps receiving anything in return after Iorio spent three full years developing in the minors with the AHL's Hershey Bears.
Iorio, still just 22, has played in nine career NHL games with the Capitals over the past three years. The Caps chose to place him on waivers over veteran defender Dylan McIlrath, who is soon to come off of injured reserve and will need an open roster spot to do so.
The overall asset management is perplexing and in a similar way of the team's offseason Justin Sourdif trade.
Iorio was far too attractive a waiver target to risk, especially for a team like the Sharks, as they can afford to take more chances on younger talent given their ongoing rebuild. Even outside of just the Sharks, NHL teams are always on the lookout for big, right-shot defenders who can skate, and Iorio fits that bill, standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 200 pounds.
With defender Timothy Liljegren going on injured reserve, the Sharks were set to have just two healthy righties, John Klingberg and Vincent Desharnais, on their roster. Iorio also immediately becomes the second youngest rearguard on San Jose's roster, as three of their regulars are 33 or older.
All of that information begs the question: Would the Sharks -- or another team in a similar position -- have made the same decision if McIlrath were the player waived by the Capitals? The easy answer, in my opinion, is no - but let's delve deeper into why.
McIlrath, 33, is, unlike Iorio, a fully understood and known quantity in the NHL. While also big -- 6-foot-5 -- and right-handed, he's not fast, he's not going to provide any offense, and he's not going to drive play. But he can beat the mess out of guys like Matt Rempe, has experience as a captain on a championship-winning Bears team, and is beloved in the Capitals' locker room.
With McIlrath on the ice last season in 17 games, the Capitals saw just 43.7 percent of shot attempts, 48.7 percent of expected goals, and 46.8 percent of scoring chances. They saw 56.2 percent of high-danger chances but were also outscored 10-7 by their opponents. So, outside of losing a great teammate, the Capitals wouldn't be missing much on the ice if McIlrath were either claimed or sent to Hershey.
Despite that, McIlrath was signed to a two-year, $1.6 million contract extension by the Capitals this past March. The deal was announced to the team during a video review session, and the celebrations from McIlrath's peers were immediate.
The structure of that one-way deal would likely have made McIlrath a tough waiver claim for other teams, as he is set to be paid $800k at both the NHL and AHL levels for the balance of the contract. Not only does Iorio potentially have unlocked potential and room to grow as a player, but he is still on his entry-level contract and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the year.
McIlrath, a former 10th overall draft pick by the New York Rangers, made a full-time graduation back to the NHL last season after spending the majority of the prior eight seasons in the AHL. The Capitals brought him into their organization on a two-way contract, and he did not leave the AHL the entire 2021-22 campaign.
Given that McIlrath was brought in as a 31-year-old free agent on a league minimum deal, where he was making $450k in the AHL, the level of investment the Capitals had in him was minimal. Losing an arguably below-replacement-level player like that is never the end of the world, because they basically grow on trees in pro hockey - hence how the Caps ended up with McIlrath in the first place.
On the flip side, the Capitals used a second-round draft pick to acquire Iorio, then spent four years developing him with their own resources. You need not look too far to see an example of the Caps doing something similar and likely regretting the results.
Ahead of the 2020-21 season, the Capitals signed Hall of Fame veteran defenseman Zdeno Chara to a one-year contract. The move completely bumped Jonas Siegenthaler, then a 23-year-old former 2nd round pick of the Caps, out of the team's lineup. The still-developing Siegenthaler eventually requested a trade, received one to the New Jersey Devils for a third-round pick, and quickly became one of the best defensive defenseman in the NHL.
Some reporters and analysts have cited Iorio's need for consistent playing time as a good reason why he was chosen to be waived over McIlrath, but the young blueliner has already played 190 career AHL games, not counting the playoffs. Playing another 70-game season would qualify him as an AHL veteran (260 games), at just 23-years-old, and in his past seasons with the Bears, he's already played a big part in two successful runs to the Calder Cup.
Being in an NHL environment for a full season, even as a near-automatic healthy scratch, would have been more beneficial to Iorio than spending another year in the AHL. Especially, since this year's Bears team is far younger and without many veteran leaders from Iorio's past.
The Capitals do presently have a deep blueline, but their three regular right-handed defenders are all over 30, and the organization isn't exactly chock-full of young right-shots: Ryan Chesley and Cam Allen are righties; Cole Hutson, Leon Muggli, David Gucciardi, and Aron Dahlqvist are all lefties.
With Iorio, the Capitals may also explain the move as trying to do right by the player, giving him a chance to play in NHL games this year. They have done so in the past, as recently as when they allowed Alex Alexeyev to become an unrestricted free agent this past summer. We might hear something similar from head coach Spencer Carbery on Friday morning.
While the sentiment behind that reasoning is nice, it would make even less sense to me since it would mean they still think he's capable of playing games in the NHL as soon as this season. And while I acknowledge that the Capitals likely had little to no trade options due to league-wide awareness of their roster situation, I don't think risking Iorio leaving for free is ever the right call compared to the same scenario with McIlrath.