Ivan Miroshnichenko Landing Spots

As it turns out, Nikita Kucherov isn't the only Russian winger looking for a trade. Washington Capitals forward Ivan Miroshnichenko (and his agent Dan Milstein, who is coincidentally also Kucherov's agent) has been granted permission by the Capitals to find a trade for the young forward.

As Milstein told Daily Faceoff, the biggest issue with Miroshnichenko and the Capitals is that Washington has too many forwards and the 22-year-old who was a first-round pick by the Caps in 2022 doesn't have much of a path to playing games.

This season, Miroshnichenko has played in three games and has a goal. He split the previous three seasons between Washington and the AHL in Hershey and if the Caps tried to send him back to the AHL, he'd have to clear waivers and that's not likely.

Elliotte Friedman said the Capitals would like to get at least a first-round pick for Miroshnichenko, and while sooner would be better, he also wants to be in the right situation. We'll take a look at some of the discussed locations and theorize others for ourselves.

Vancouver Canucks

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If there are any teams that make sense to add a young, scoring winger, the Canucks belong at the top of the list.

Vancouver was one of the worst teams in the NHL last season and they're not faring any better this season with three wins in their first 18 games. While they're scoring goals, they're also bleeding goals against, so their needs are many, but adding the 22-year-old winger would certainly give them someone else to build on to go with Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Marco Rossi and Liam Öhgren.

While Vancouver does have first-round picks to work with, given their record and likelihood of improvement this season, giving one up for Miroshnichenko seems unlikely, but with two second-round picks in the next draft, that could be a way to bridge the gap with Washington.

Los Angeles Kings

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The Kings haven't lit up the NHL to start the season and one look at their roster shows they could use some younger scoring help. Acquiring Ivan Miroshnichenko would certainly help address that.

David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period has mentioned L.A. as a team who could be in the hunt for Miroshnichenko and given that 41-year-old Corey Perry is currently in their top six forward group, why not, right?

In truth, the Kings are still without Kevin Fiala, Mats Zuccarello and Alex Turcotte so their forward group is being stretched badly, and they've had to press guys like Kenny Connors, Martin Chromiak and Andre Lee into action out of the AHL. Miroshnichenko would deepen their group and give them another winger with high upside.

If the cost is, indeed, a first to acquire Miroshnichenko, GM Ken Holland has been bold like that in the past, although he'd probably like to see his team a bit higher in the standings and with playoffs in mind before giving up a first.

Calgary Flames

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Although the bar has been set low for the Flames this season, they've been, ahem, hot of late going 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and improving their lot in life. Recent success aside, Calgary could still use some help and adding Ivan Miroshnichenko would improve their lineup and maybe allow them to keep good times going.

Miroshnichenko would be a fit with the Flames given their youth movement on the blue line with Simon Nemec and Zayne Parekh and the chance to blend in with Yegor Sharangovich and Matt Coronato up front.

While giving up a first-round pick is probably not in Calgary's best interests, hot play or not, they've got a pair of second-round picks available to them this year as well as other young players that perhaps the Capitals would like in a long-term development situation.

Seattle Kraken

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Full marks to the Kraken who have started off this season well and who have shown they're willing to make a deal, too. They traded their own prospect, Shane Wright, to Nashville for Matthew Wood and with Ivan Miroshnichenko out there, perhaps Seattle would like to add yet another team's past first-round pick to the roster.

Miroshnichenko joining up with Wood, Kaapo Kakko and Mackie Samoskevich as well as their own top guy Matty Beniers would create a really interesting forward group, one that's shown some fight in them already this season. Given Seattle's need to get back to the playoffs, adding more firepower would be a good idea in the West.

What's more is that Seattle has two first-round picks in the upcoming draft with their own as well as the Tampa Bay Lightning's (a top 10 protected conditional pick). If the Caps wanted to move Miroshnichenko out west and get a piece of an Eastern Conference rival, sending him to the Kraken gives the opportunity to do that.

Chicago Blackhawks

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This season could not be going worse for the Chicago Blackhawks. They're losing games, one of their big offseason additions is out injured (Bo Byram) and they're playing the kind of hockey that's a total drain to watch. Everything that could go wrong, has, but if they wanted to stop feeling bad about themselves and add more young talent to their group, Ivan Miroshnichenko is there to be had.

Miroshnichenko would not have a problem getting regular minutes and opportunities with Chicago and the Blackhawks are in a desperate situation where any move to add talent has to be considered.

Obviously, Chicago should think twice about meeting Washington's apparent asking price of a first-round pick and more, but after giving up the No. 4 pick to get Byram last offseason, maybe anything is possible for GM Kyle Davidson and that would be music to the Caps' ears.

What's working in Chicago's favor? They have potentially three first-round picks in 2027 (their own, Florida's and a conditional pick from Edmonton) to work with and giving one up for a player they could have in the lineup immediately as opposed to waiting years to see if they make it would be really appealing to them.

Philadelphia Flyers

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Among the more desperate teams in the NHL, the Flyers certainly count as one of them and after coming up short a few times in the offseason to add forward talent, the possibility of landing Ivan Miroshnichenko is something that could work for them a couple of ways.

One, they would add another young, skilled forward to their group that features Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov already. Secondly, giving Michkov a fellow Russian to work with could help bring more out of his game and enhance Miroshnichenko's play with a new team in a new situation.

The downside to all this is that Washington almost certainly doesn't want to send Miroshnichenko to a division rival and the only way to make that happen would be to pay a little more. Philly has picks to work with, but getting the Capitals on board for a trade would make for a really tricky negotiation.