Washington Capitals Free Agency Outlook, Potential Fits

Washington Capitals Free Agency Preview/Outlook, Salary Cap Situation, Restricted Free Agents, Team Needs, and Potential Fits

Heading into free agency, the Washington Capitals have roughly $10 million dollars in cap space, and still have a few key RFAs to re-sign. Marcus Johansson, ~~Tom Wilson~~ (signed Thursday), and Dmitry Orlov all need new deals and were recently presented qualifying offers.

Recent rumors suggest Washington would like to keep Johansson’s cap hit under $4 million – that may prove difficult. The Caps should take this opportunity to sell high on the Swedish winger and let Lars Eller/Andre Burakovsky/Jakub Vrana fill the massive LW void. That money saved could then be wisely invested on a defensive upgrade.

Year in Review

It was a memorable season for the Presidents Trophy winning Washington Capitals in 2015-16. They had a record of 56-18-8 (120 points) and walked into the playoffs as Stanley Cup favorites.

More from Puck Prose

Among the best stories during the regular season was netminder Braden Holtby who looked poised to break the 50-win barrier, but fell just short after a Vezina worthy campaign.

Alex Ovechkin was a star as usual, although it was another Russian that had a monster season. Evgeny Kuznetsov put up 77 points in his second full year of NHL action.

The Caps also received unexpected elevation from the blue line with players such as Nate Schmidt stepping up.

Unfortunately, it was all for not once Washington met up with eventual Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. The Capitals were sputtering down the final stretch of the regular season, and it carried over into the postseason. It definitely didn’t help that Kuznetsov went cold posting a mere two points in 12 games.

Washington Capitals Free Agency Outlook/Preview

Salary Cap Committed to 2016-17: $64,111,793
Number of Players Signed: 36

Notable Unrestricted Free Agents: Jason Chimera, Mike Richards, Michael Latta, Mike Weber, Justin Peters, Sean Collins, Dan Ellis, Zach Sill, Ryan Stanton, Ryan Bourque

Notable Restricted Free Agents: Marcus Johansson, Dmitry Orlov

*Washington re-signed RFA Tom Wilson on Thursday to a two-year $2 million dollar cap hit.

If Washington re-signs their remaining RFAs without trimming salary, the team will have no money to spend in free agency.

That’s okay though, any move of significance is bound to come via trade anyways. If anything, the Capitals will look to add a few depth pieces on the short-list for call ups in Hershey.

Washington Capitals Free Agency Team Needs

Bottom-Six Center, Top-Four LHD Upgrade