Capitals make a decision on the future of Braden Holtby

Don’t look now but the NHL trade deadline is just four days away and there are still several high profile pending free agents whose future is up in the air. 

What happens to the likes of Chris Kreider, Wayne Simmonds, Braden Holtby, Ilya Kovalchuk, Joe Thornton and Mike Hoffman come Monday afternoon?

Well… scratch Holtby’s name off the list of potential players in play after Washington Capitals GM Brian MacLellan told reporters yesterday that he will NOT trade Holtby.

Check it out:

“I think our story’s been the same the whole year, that he’s our guy and we’re going to try to compete for a [Stanley] Cup,” MacLellan said to NHL.com. “I think we want him at the top of his game at the end of the year.”

So, Holtby isn’t going anywhere soon, but what about in the offseason? Rookie Ilya Samsonov has been fantastic in a back up role, but do the Caps move off of Holtby this offseason?

“I think at the end of the year we’ll sit down with Braden and talk about where we’re at,” MacLellan said. “Samsonov’s been great, but still, he’s a young goalie. This is his first year, still developing. So we’ll sit down and evaluate everything at the end of the year.”

Stay tuned, Caps fans.