And the Hits Just Keep On Coming...

The Caps have sent perpetually "ill" defenseman Lawrence Nycholat to the Senators for defenseman Andy Hedlund and a 6th round pick in 2007.

This move was a little more unexpected, only because AHL-caliber players tend to fly under the radar of both the national media and local fans. Still, the fact that he's been on the IR for the past few weeks with what was described as an illness had to be a sign that he wasn't long for this team, either by way of a trade or a waivers claim in the course of being sent down to Hershey.

After initially jumping out to a hot start, Nycholat cooled down quickly and towards the end was often a defensive liability as his career AHLer status caught up with him.

So the Caps appear to be ramping things up a bit, albeit with some smaller trades. We'll see what happens as the countdown slips to 20 hours. This could get interesting...