Capitals announce two lineup changes for “trade related reasons”

This just in, the Washington Capitals have announced that forward Garnett Hathaway and defenseman Dimitry Orlov will be held out of tonight's game for "trade related reasons."

From the Capitals:

The big name here is obviously Orlov, who has spent his entire career with the Capitals. He's a pending unrestricted free agent coming off a deal that pays him $5.1 million per season. He has a solid three goals and 19 points in 43 games with the Capitals so far this season. He's in the 11th season with the franchise and his best season cam actually last year when he put up 12 goals and 35 points in 76 games. In other words, he's still got game and at 31 years old he might be rounding into the prime of his career.

As for Hathaway, he's an absolute warrior who plays with his heart on his sleeve. He's never going to put up big points, but he did manage to score 14 goals and 26 points in 76 games with the Capitals last season. Like Orlov, he's a pending free agent.

What's really interesting to me about the Capitals is the fact that literally every defenseman they have under contract aside from John Carlson is a pending UFA. Orlov, Nick Jensen, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Alexander Alexeyev and Erik Gustafsson are all pending free agents and... honestly... how many of those players do we expect to return next season? Prior to this recent development I'd have said that maybe only Orlov is worth bringing back on a new contract. Now it looks like even his future is elsewhere.