It was the second week of April, and Chris Patrick was addressing two questions at once.In a sit-down interview with The Athletic, the Washington Capitals general manager was talking about the difficult decisions to trade a legacy player such as John Carlson and also a popular veteran such as Nic Dowd at the deadline. But he was also addressing the point of it all, adding assets from those trades to hopefully throw at trade scenarios this summer.“I’m hoping there will be trades there this summer, but I also think teams that are maybe willing to move a top guy understand that it’s a sellers’ market, so the prices will be high,” Patrick said in that April 8 interview. “So we had to put ourselves hopefully in a position to have as many different pieces that we can use to get somebody.”Bingo. Talk about nailing it.As it turns out, the Caps still have the first-round pick they got from the Anaheim Ducks in the Carlson trade, so they’re still in the first round despite moving their own first-rounder in the Jordan Kyrou deal this week. And they moved the ’27 third-rounder pick originally owned by the San Jose Sharks in the Alex Tuch sign-and-trade deal.It’s fun to have a plan. It’s even better when it comes together.Are the Sharks why the Blackhawks traded for Bowen Byram?Corey Pronman, Scott Wheeler and more“That is what kept me up at night — I thought we did a good job making some hard decisions at the (trade) deadline to get these picks that we could use in deals, but my semi-concern was I just hoped I could get into the deal or there was enough to get into a deal,” Patrick told The Athletic on Thursday. “There’s other factors, too, like Jordan had to waive his no-trade clause to come to us, or some teams might like other prospects or another offer better. So, I was worried I’d have myself in a good position to make a trade but just for whatever reason, it wouldn’t come.“So when we were able to get in there on Jordan and Alex, it was definitely a big sigh of relief.”It also erased 12 months of frustration.After trying all he could on free agent Nikolaj Ehlers a year ago, when Washington was the runner-up to the Carolina Hurricanes on the winger, and then aggressively trying but falling short in trading for Artemi Panarin in early February, Patrick swung big not just once but twice this week and came away a winner.In adding Kyrou on Tuesday, followed by Tuch on Wednesday, the Caps have finally addressed their top-six offensive needs. And then some.“It’s very satisfying, because it has felt like over the last season and a half, this was a hole for us — skill in the top six or just more top-six bodies,” Patrick said. “To be able to get a couple was huge. We had been active in the market (over the past year) when those types of players became available, and they’re not available a lot. We knew we would have to put our best foot forward this summer to try to get what was out there.”Is there concern over how an eight-year deal will age for the 30-year-old Tuch?The reality is, eight years was the price of poker to snag the top unrestricted free agent available on this year’s market.“It was a sign-and-trade before July 1, but it’s essentially free agency, right?” Patrick said. “You’re not going to win any deal in free agency. It’s the nature of it. It’s essentially an auction, and the result of an auction is that it goes to the highest bidder.