Confirmed Trade: [WSH/STL] Jordan Kyrou for Connor McMichael, Milton Gastrin, 2026 1st round pick (16th overall)

[CoachBombay90]

All the bias in this thread is hilarious. Caps fans think they're getting the second coming of Gretzky and the Blues fans think they're getting a young Ryan O'Reilly. so annoying.

 

[CoachBombay90]

That’s a really underwhelming return for Kyrou IMO and the NTC made things harder. Great for Washington.

this is a common theme among people who have no clue about kyrou other than looking at his stat lines. his disinterest in playing hockey most nights will be evident soon enough, especially when he isn't scoring. there's a reason the blues traded him...

 

[Louie the Blue]

this is a common theme among people who have no clue about kyrou other than looking at his stat lines. his disinterest in playing hockey most nights will be evidebt soon enough, especially when he isn't scoring. there's a reason the blues traded him...

Because the organization maddeningly tried forcing him to be a first line winger that can score and play shutdown defense, when that's not what his skillset is suited for?

 

[NYRfan85]

Wow, the Blues are cooking with 4(!) first round picks this year. Great trade for them!

 

[Silky mitts]

Because the organization maddeningly tried forcing him to be a first line winger that can score and play shutdown defense, when that's not what his skillset is suited for?

If you ask Google Gemini who was the worst center in the NHL last year, it says Brayden Schenn so I don't see how they forced him to be top line last year.

 

[Bogey64]

Any info on Milton Gastrin? I can't seem to find much about him.

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[BleedBlue14]

Just out of your 15 year time frame but I also seem to remember the Blues taking a guy named Vladimir Tarasenko with a 16th overall selection circa 2010 & he turned out to be a decent NHLer

Yeah Schwartz was 14 OA that year too who was also a really good player.

Did 15 to avoid that draft as those guys are getting close to retirement age.

 

[um]

this is a common theme among people who have no clue about kyrou other than looking at his stat lines. his disinterest in playing hockey most nights will be evident soon enough, especially when he isn't scoring. there's a reason the blues traded him...

Sounds like Kuzy.

You can have inconsistent players on your team, just don't build around them. The Caps are not a team that lacks heart/hustle/2 way play.

 

[EurlichBachman]

All the bias in this thread is hilarious. Caps fans think they're getting the second coming of Gretzky and the Blues fans think they're getting a young Ryan O'Reilly. so annoying.

I don't believe were reading the same thread. Overalloth sides seem content to see how it plays out and think it could be a trade that benefits both teams. Not seeing much gloating from anyone on either side really.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

After reading a lot of Blues fans thoughts I'm getting some Mantha trade vibes. Hopefully this trade works out better for the Caps.

 

[Mike Liut]

Oshie was pretty heavily criticized as inconsistent, immature, and disappearing in the playoffs. No doubt he grew into his potential in Washington.

Oshie's best year in St. Louis was 21 goals and meanwhile Kyrou has scored 27, 37, 31, and 36 before. If that's without being anywhere near the competitor Oshie was, then he has even more upside than I thought.

Kyrou avoids contact at all costs and wont win many board battles

 

[Silky mitts]

Any info on Milton Gastrin? I can't seem to find much about him.

In the 2025 U18s he was 1C for runner up Sweden, looked the part of a playmaker. Then in the 2026 juniors he started as a middle 6 C, failed to convert some opportunities, committed some bad penalties, finished the tournament as the 4C, but they won.

 

[EastVillageBlues]

It's an apples to oranges comparison anyway. Oshie wasn't seen as a top line player while in STL whereas Kyrou was supposed to be our best winger for the foreseeable future (and the co-highest paid forward on the team). And Kyrou does play a soft game, I'm not sure how you can debate that. He's not strong on the boards, he rarely hits anybody, he can get pushed around.

And when you say unfairly criticized... So I'm not allowed to criticize an $8 million player who just put up his lowest point total since he became a regular NHL player? A guy who just finished the season with 1 goal in his last 12 games while we still had a chance to make the playoffs? Who also had a 13-game goalless drought earlier in the season? He's supposed to be a goal scorer and driver of our offense and he disappears way too often.

I'm also tired of people overstating how great of a two way player he has become because of advanced stats and a J Fresh card claims he's 100% defensively, literally claiming he could be no better lol. The same analytics cards that rate him better than Thomas and Buch defensively and rate him better at goal scoring than Pastrňák. Those cards are useless IMO. Every player is expected to play a defensively responsible game, I don't give bonus points for that. He's still average at best in that regard.

You can disagree with my opinion if you want but I'm pretty sure Berube and Montgomery would agree with mine more than yours. There is a reason he got passed on the depth chart by Holloway and Snuggerud last season. He gets so much criticism is that you don't see his best often enough. If he could tap into that more consistently then he'd be a true star player, and who knows... Maybe he gets there with Washington.

You do make some interesting points. Can't say I agree with all of them, but not unfounded.

I wouldn't bring up Berube and Montgomery though. One is someone basically no longer had the team in his control after 21-22; and the other is maybe the most ineffective coach we have had since before Quenneville. Both were suspect to terrible during the tenure that Kyrou was on the Blues.

 

[philip]

Honestly, McMichael doesn't have the value (yet) that a lot seem to believe. Caps fans know, though. He's alright, ok, but a frustrating kind of player. He shows the odd glimpse of something really great and you think 'right! yes! Now kick on, do that every week!' and time after time he doesn't. Seems to regress, if anything. He's not got the quality to be a top 6 c, and obviously not the grit to be bottom line, so he's a 3C by process of elimination, but he doesn't really play like a C. If the team is struggling as well he will disappear fast. You'll see what we mean soon. Hope this Kyrou is decent though, we need goals on the wings now more than ever.

 

[Susannah]

All the bias in this thread is hilarious. Caps fans think they're getting the second coming of Gretzky and the Blues fans think they're getting a young Ryan O'Reilly. so annoying.

Honestly, I did not see a single response that gave me this impression.

 

[Em etah Eh]

Kyrou avoids contact at all costs and wont win many board battles

That's just like, your opinion man...

 

[um]

Honestly, McMichael doesn't have the value (yet) that a lot seem to believe. Caps fans know, though. He's alright, ok, but a frustrating kind of player. He shows the odd glimpse of something really great and you think 'right! yes! Now kick on, do that every week!' and time after time he doesn't. Seems to regress, if anything. He's not got the quality to be a top 6 c, and obviously not the grit to be bottom line, so he's a 3C by process of elimination, but he doesn't really play like a C. If the team is struggling as well he will disappear fast. You'll see what we mean soon. Hope this Kyrou is decent though, we need goals on the wings now more than ever.

He was pretty bad at center this year; he's much better as a winger. Otherwise, I agree.

 

[Reality Czech]

If you ask Google Gemini who was the worst center in the NHL last year, it says Brayden Schenn so I don't see how they forced him to be top line last year.

That just goes to show how you can never trust AI. He's not the player he once was but to suggest he's even close to the worst is asinine.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Honestly, McMichael doesn't have the value (yet) that a lot seem to believe. Caps fans know, though. He's alright, ok, but a frustrating kind of player. He shows the odd glimpse of something really great and you think 'right! yes! Now kick on, do that every week!' and time after time he doesn't. Seems to regress, if anything. He's not got the quality to be a top 6 c, and obviously not the grit to be bottom line, so he's a 3C by process of elimination, but he doesn't really play like a C. If the team is struggling as well he will disappear fast. You'll see what we mean soon. Hope this Kyrou is decent though, we need goals on the wings now more than ever.

Truthfully a lot of the same could be said about Kyrou, moreso a younger Kyrou. But he was fairly streaky in his scoring aside from when Buch/Thomas/Kyrou were together.

But I'd imagine the inconsistencies with McMichael are much more pronounced. If someone could get Kyrou to simplify his game a bit (not try to make the hero play as much) and put him with skilled linemates you likely have a point per game player. If not you're probably going to have a streaky 60-70 point forward that needs deployment that is tilted towards the offensive side of the puck. I think a change of scenery is going to be good for him, you just need to expect a Fiala type of player where there's some frustration with his playstyle if things aren't rolling along.

I'm also interested to see if Washington gets him in a position to be a weapon on the PP. Blues never seemingly could figure that part out.

 

[Mike Liut]

That's just like, your opinion man...

And it was much worse this year.

 

[STLegend]

As a Blues fan I don't love the trade but I don't hate it either. I'll wait to see what happens with the pick. It was 100% time to move on from Kyrou, he looked disinterested the last 2 seasons. Kind of reminds me of the Bozak signing where fans thought that was the center hole we were looking to fill and then DA went out and got ROR, I expect another move to fill the 2C hole and push McMichael to the wing.

I actually really like the inclusion of Gastin, sounds like the perfect center for O.Stenberg and the makings of a shutdown 3rd line in a couple years.

 

[Silky mitts]

That just goes to show how you can never trust AI. He's not the player he once was but to suggest he's even close to the worst is asinine.

NYI was 35-23-5 when they traded for him, went 8-11 the rest of the way. Blues were 24-29-9 when they traded him, 13-4-3 the rest of the way.

 

[SNAPU]

I haven't read past post #250 yet so apologies if this has been discussed in depth already. I remember Gastrin being touted as having 2C/3C upside going into his draft. Most pegged him as likely to go 20-28OA but he slipped to the top of 2nd round. Obviously would've preferred Cristall but Gastrin is just 19 and hopefully still has 2/3C upside. Could be a real sweet deal if both him and Dvorsky (20) progress enough to center their own lines in the peak of the Blues window.

 

[Kalopsia]

After reading a lot of Blues fans thoughts I'm getting some Mantha trade vibes. Hopefully this trade works out better for the Caps.

I think the difference is that with Mantha it was pure projection. If he could stay healthy and focused for a full season he could be a 30 goal, 70 point player. Kyrou's already done that though, and it's just a matter of getting him back to it. He's more like PLD, where he'd demonstrated high-end 2C play in Winnipeg and the Caps believed (correctly) they could get him back to that. With Kyrou though the signs pointing to a bounce back are so clear that everyone can see them, hence the price tag.

 

[Agent37]

Any info on Milton Gastrin? I can't seem to find much about him.

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As I recall if correct. He's ceiling is a middle six two way shutdown center, most likely going to develop into a defensively responsible 3C or 4C if he manages to crack the NHL.