Matt Cooke done in Washington

From Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post:

Left wing Matt Cooke, as expected, will not be returning to Washington. The signing of Matt Bradley made Cooke expendable/redundant. “Obviously, Matt Bradley has been with us longer and was committed to us,” McPhee said. “You can’t keep everybody.”

Read more from Capitals Insider here.

Cooke was a solid addition to the Caps’ roster at the trade deadline but the qualities he brings to the table–energy, physical play and speed have been deemed replaceable by the Caps management. I’m sure Cooke will catch on in a third/fourth line role with another squad.