The Washington Capitals season is officially over. All of the exit interviews with players have been completed. The team will go its separate ways for a couple months, but not all will be coming back.
The Caps roster is full of future UFA's and RFA's that Washington GM Brian MacLellan and Head Coach Barry Trotz will need to pick through and make decisions on whether or not any of them are still a fit with this team.
Joel Ward, a UFA come July 1st, is coming off a 4 year, $12M contract and knows that anything can happen this time of year.
“It’s where you fit in and what’s your role again,… Ward said. “There are guys coming up, there’s no secret. Obviously, you’d like to keep everybody, it was a really good group. But it doesn't work out like that. Where you fit in and where they see you is a big component because as an athlete and a competitor you want to play and you want to make the most of your opportunity."
Come July, Washington will have a little over $20M in cap space. It sounds like a lot, however GMBM has a few key names to sign first before he starts thinking about players like Ward and Eric Fehr, also a UFA.
Braden Holtby will become a restricted free agent, and it's safe to say he will be getting a BIG pay raise. Holtby is coming off a $2M contract and a big year as he lead all goalies in games played, and finished in the top-10 in all major categories, including 9 shutouts. He was the heart and soul of the Caps playoff run and his game should only improve as he gets older. Holtby is only 24 and isn't in his prime yet, and the Capitals should be looking to ink him to a 5-7 extension.
How much he could bring in is the question. Holtby could be looking at a $5M-$7M deal that would keep him here in DC until he's 30.
Two other important RFA's are Evgeny Kuznetsov and Marcus Johansson. Kuznetsov was slow out of the gate this season, but his playoff performance showed just how special a player he can be, especially since he's adapting well to Barry Trotz's system. The Caps could sign him to a short-term bridge deal to see if he is able to keep up his play, and then re-sign him to a long-term deal in two years. He has the potential to be the secondary scorer that the Caps have been missing since Alex Semin left.
Marcus Johansson turned his play around big time this season, but was inconsistent towards the end of the year. With the stability of Trotz here in Washington, Johansson won't have to worry about playing for another coach next year and learning another new system like he has the past 4 years. He is still an option to play with Ovechkin and Backstrom up front or could be groomed to take over the second line center position if the Caps don't grab a UFA this summer.
The other wild card for the Caps, and the biggest UFA on their roster, will be Mike Green. A few months ago, I was a advocate for not trading him at the deadline and in keeping him around for next season if they could. After Game 7 against the Rangers, I think it's safe to say that almost every Caps fan wants him gone. However, Green really wants to stay, and if the Caps can re-sign him to a VERY friendly home-town discount, then why not?
But chances are, Green has played his last game in DC. The Caps can still trade his rights to another team around the time of the draft and could get a pretty decent return instead of letting Green walk for nothing. He still is a great offensive defenseman and in the right atmosphere could give a team a huge boost on the blueline. Times have changed here in DC and Washington has a lot of young, talented defensemen waiting in the wings, like Dmitry Orlov and Nate Schmidt.
The newcomers on the team, Curtis Glencross and Tim Gleason, will most likely sign somewhere else as both are UFA's as well. Glencross was nonexistent in the playoff run but Gleason did play his role just fine. However, that experiment is over and both will find new homes.
I'll have more about the Caps UFA's and RFA's soon, but here is a rundown on who is up for grabs come July.
UFA: Forwards - Joel Ward Curtis Glencross Eric Fehr Jay Beagle Aaron Volpatti Tim Kennedy Casey Wellman Chris Conner Kris Newbury
Defense - Mike Green John Erskine Tim Gleason Jon Landry Mike Moore
RFA: Forwards - Marcus Johansson Evgeny Kuznetsov Stanislav Galiev Chris Brown Garrett Mitchell
Defense - Steve Oleksy Patrick Wey Nate Schmidt Cameron Schilling Tomas Kundratek
Goal - Braden Holtby Philip Grubauer Edward Pasquale
More to come...