Matt Niskanen signed a 7 year, $40.75M deal with the Capitals a little bit ago, joining his partner Brooks Orpik who also signed with the Caps today to a crazy 5 year, $27M deal.
Niskanen received the longest deal of the day. So far.
GM Brian MacLellan sure made a splash... whether or not that's a good thing remains to be seen.
A lot of people will say that he doesn't deserve that money yet after a breakout year with Pittsburgh, so "Nisky" will have a lot to prove to Caps fans when he comes down to DC this summer.
What else remains to be seen is what happens now to either Mike Green or John Carlson. Green's contract is up at the end of next season, and chances are he won't be back - either by trade or the Caps let him hit free agency. Carlson has a few more years left, but, if Niskanen proves to be the better option, Carlson could be moved after a season or two. I can't see Carlson leaving, but if his ice time is cut, it could lead to a problem.
Another problem is now the Caps sit just below the new cap at a little over $1M in cap space, which means that Mikhail Grabovski definitely isn't coming back, and what is irritating about that is the Caps didn't have enough money for Grabo, but had plenty to overspend on Orpik and Niskanen.
Don't get me wrong, I really like both defenseman, but are they worth that much?
For GMBM's sake, they better be.
Now the Caps will either look at trade options or stick with what they have so far. Kuznetsov will probably be the second line center, according to MacLellan who would like to see him there. Not sure how I feel about that yet, but you never know. What we do know is that Grabovski was the best option for the Caps, and, unless they make some cap room, they let him go for nothing.
Should be an interesting season.
More to come...
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