Capitals players respect Erat's right to demand a trade

Washington Capitals forward Martin Erat was on the ice for practice on Tuesday, one day after demanding a trade due to limited ice time so far this season. While teammates knew he was unhappy, they all seem to respect his right to request an early exit from Washington in search of a better situation.

"That’s one person’s right as a hockey player. I think all of us in here respect it," goaltender Braden Holtby told the Washington Post. 

We know Marty’s a great player and he has been for a while, and we all think so. We all want to see him succeed and play based on the type of person he is. We’d love to have him here, obviously everyone loves him in the dressing room, but in the end it’s his life, he wants to perform, he wants to accomplish his goals and we respect that.

Forward Troy Brouwer added it's hard to blame a guy who just wants to play.

He wants to play and he wants to be an impact [player] on his team. Right now he’s not being used in that way, and so he wants to move on and he wants to play, he wants to play good minutes and be a guy that’s sought after to be a cornerstone of a team.

Captain Alex Ovechkin offered this somewhat unique take.

For us, we are players. Tomorrow maybe I’m going to be healthy scratch — you never know what’s going to happen. Maybe tomorrow I’m going to be traded. It’s a business. Capitals going to be forever, we’re going to be here until time’s going to be up.

For now, Erat remains on the roster, but appears destined to be a healthy scratch until the team can find him a new home or until he's called upon to fill a hole due to injury.