Veteran additions from Wagner to Ertz have the Commanders on track to make the playoffs

Before drafting Jayden Daniels and turning the keys to the Washington Commanders to him as their franchise quarterback, first-year general manager Adam Peters made clear in free agency this was not a long-term rebuild.

In came Bobby Wagner, Zach Ertz, Frankie Luvu, Jeremy Chinn, Dante Fowler, Austin Ekeler and several other veterans with decades of combined NFL experience. When a losing streak threatened to derail the season, Wagner spoke up in the locker room before practice last week to deliver a message about getting back to enjoying football.

“We just needed to have fun,” Wagner said. “As the expectations started to grow, we needed to get back to just having fun. That’s why we were playing so well.”

He and his teammates responded by routing Tennessee to end the skid at three and go into the bye week 8-5 and on track to make the playoffs.

New coach Dan Quinn calls the current state “base camp” with more of the mountain left to climb, and his team has doubled the win total from last season and gotten to this point thanks to Wagner, Ertz, Luvu, Chinn, Fowler, Ekeler and others forming a competitive identity that has turned things around in Washington.

“Those are what I would consider the lead sled dogs,” Quinn said Monday. “And when it comes time and you get into December and January football, you lean on players like that.”

The Commanders will continue to lean on them in the closing stretch with games at New Orleans on Dec. 15, at home against Philadelphia on Dec. 22 and Atlanta on Dec. 28 or 29 and then the season finale at Dallas on Jan. 4 or 5.

They've already been playing a big role on and off the field to get to this point. Wagner, Chinn and Luvu are the top three tacklers on the roster, Fowler leads the team with 8 1/2 sacks and Ertz is second in yards receiving and touchdown catches.

That would have mattered so little if the losing streak stretched to four and playoff hopes that looked solid in early November were fading. Except for Ekeler, on injured reserve because of a concussion, every other experienced newcomer played a key role in beating the Titans and getting a much-needed win.

“It’s really just to steady the ship, honestly,” said Ertz, whose TD pass from Daniels was his fourth of the season. “I’ve played in this league a long time, and three games don’t define you as a football team by any means. It’s really just making sure guys don’t overreact. Guys didn’t need to do anything they weren’t capable of doing. It really was to play within yourself, trust each other and believe in one another.”

The Commanders have drastically improved on defense from 2023, when they ranked last in the league, and even from the start of the season. That is not a huge surprise given the six new starters at 11 spots.

Wagner, a six-time All-Pro linebacker, leading the way at age 34 has been a major factor. His success has come in concert with Luvu, who has stood out as one of the best players on the field in recent weeks.

"I knew what the ballplayer would bring: blitzing, pass rushing, and that was on tape — I’d seen that," Quinn said of Luvu. “What I didn’t know was the energy and love he brought as a teammate. And so that has been almost as impactful, about the way that he cares for one another, the way he looks after his teammates, the way he goes so hard. They see that in him.”

That was the goal way back in the spring, when the external expectations were very low. Even before Week 1, BetMGM Sportsbook set the Commanders' over/under win total at 6 1/2, which is long back in the rearview mirror thanks to veteran leadership keeping things from snowballing out of control.

One more victory would clinch Washington's first winning season since 2016, and well within reach is just the organization's sixth playoff appearance this century. All that is left is to finish the job.

“There’s still a lot of things we can fix, but winning is always better than losing,” Wagner said. “I think it will be fun these last four games.”

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Tennessee Titans wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (15) catches a touchdown pass in the end zone against the Washington Commanders safety Jeremy Chinn (11) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Washington Commanders tight end Zach Ertz, left, celebrates his touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Washington Commanders running back Austin Ekeler rushes for a 1-yard rushing touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis, left, recovers a fumbled snap as he is tackled by Washington Commanders linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. (6) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Tennessee Titans offensive tackle JC Latham (55) is tackled after catching a tipped pass by Washington Commanders safety Jeremy Chinn (11), defensive tackle Jer'Zhan Newton (95) and linebacker Frankie Luvu (4) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Washington Commanders tight end Zach Ertz (86) celebrates the team's 42-19 win against the Tennessee Titans in an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Washington Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner (54) and Washington Commanders defensive end Dorance Armstrong (92) celebrate after a sack during an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Nov. 14, 2024, in Philadelphia, PA. (AP Photo/Peter Joneleit)

For the second straight year, the Carolina Hurricanes are taking a significant swing to bolster a perennial playoff team.

The Hurricanes acquired forwards Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche and Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks in a three-team trade Friday night. In the deal, they sent forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury, as well as a second-round pick in this year's draft and a fourth-rounder in 2026, to the Avalanche.

The Blackhawks reclaimed a third-round pick for this year's draft and took on half of Rantanen's salary.

The 28-year-old Rantanen, a two-time 100-point scorer who had an Avs-record 55 goals in 2022-23, is the headliner in the trade. He had spent his entire NHL career with Colorado after being drafted 10th overall in 2015, but he was in line to become an unrestricted free agent next season after he and the organization couldn’t agree on a new deal entering this year.

“Mikko is one of the premier power forwards in our sport,” Carolina first-year general manager Eric Tulsky said in a statement. “It’s no secret that we’ve wanted to add elite skill to our lineup, and this is a player who should fit our system and locker room well. And Taylor gives us another high-skill option to bolster our attack.”

The Hurricanes have made the playoffs for six straight years, with two of those pushes reaching the Eastern Conference Final. But they're still looking for a breakthrough to the Stanley Cup Final in this current run under coach Rod Brind'Amour, the captain on Carolina's 2006 Cup winner.

They had tried to address a multi-year weakness when it came to high-end finishers last year by acquiring scoring forward Jake Guentzel before the trade deadline. But after a second-round playoff exit, Carolina ended up dealing his rights to Tampa Bay shortly before Guentzel’s expected departure in free agency.

Now, they're adding Rantanen, who has a $9.25 million cap hit for this year, to a team sitting in second in the conference with 63 points, behind league leader Washington (71).

Carolina also adds a former Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP in the 33-year-old Hall, who missed most of last season due to right knee surgery. Hall was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft who had 39 goals and 54 assists for New Jersey en route to winning the Hart for the 2017-18 season.

Hall, who is making $6 million this year with free agency looming, has nine goals and 15 assists in 46 games.

Blackhawks coach Anders Sorensen looked on the positive side of the move for Hall.

“For him, he gets an opportunity somewhere else,” Sorensen said. “It’s part of the business, right? So he’s got to deal with it. He’s a good pro. Been around the league for a long time. Has some good insight in terms of ideas, especially offensively.”

Hall's teammate and Chicago's captain, Nick Foligno, said the team carries some responsibility for the Blackhawks moving the Hart winner.

"We have no one else to blame but ourselves really in putting ourselves in the situation where they have to start thinking about the future and selling off. It’s not a fun feeling for anybody in here,” he said.

The deal marks the end of Necas’ tenure with the team that drafted him in the first round in 2017. The 26-year-old, a skilled offensive player with 16 goals and 39 assists for a team-best 55 points this year, signed a two-year deal, $13 million contract in July to avoid an arbitration hearing.

The 24-year-old Drury, a former second-round draft pick, had 15 goals in 153 regular-season games with Carolina. They join an Avalanche team battling for position in the wild-card race of the Western Conference, while the Blackhawks — sitting next to last in the league with 35 points — now have nine selections in this year's draft.

Carolina also acquired the rights to forward propsect Nils Juntorp in the deal, which comes as the NHL approaches its 4 Nations tournament break. There's also just more than a month before the league's trade deadline on March 7.

Teams are attempting to get a jump on the trade market with tightly contested races in both conferences. Trade talk had heightened, too, with speculation surrounding Vancouver shopping forward J.T. Miller.

Associated Press Hockey Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York; and freelance writer Tim Cronin in Chicago contributed to this report,

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Buffalo Sabres center Ryan McLeod, right, controls the puck while pressured by Carolina Hurricanes center Martin Necas (88) during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Buffalo, N.Y., Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. Buffalo beat Carolina 4-2. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Colorado Avalanche right wing Mikko Rantanen, right, collects the puck as Minnesota Wild center Marat Khusnutdinov defends in the third period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)