Capitals trade Johansson to Devils for picks

The Washington Capitals gave themselves a little cap flexibility Sunday night, trading forward Marcus Johansson to the New Jersey Devils for a second-round pick and a third-round pick, both in 2018.

The second-round pick was originally sent to the Devils by the Florida Panthers in the Marc Savard trade, and the Toronto Maple Leafs originally gave New Jersey the third-rounder as compensation for the hiring of Lou Lamoriello, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Johansson set career highs with 24 goals and 58 points with the Capitals this past season.

He has two years left on his contract at an annual cap hit of about $4.58 million.

Washington now has about $9.2 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly, but only has 14 players signed to its NHL roster, and still needs to sign restricted free agents Andre Burakovsky and goaltender Philipp Grubauer.

The Capitals found themselves with only about $4.65 million in cap space after signing Evgeny Kuznetsov to an eight-year, $62.4-million contract earlier Sunday, so a move like the Johansson trade was inevitable, and more transactions may still be necessary.