The Washington Capitals have inked one of their restricted free agents, re-signing Shane Gersich to a one-year, two-way contract. Gersich will earn $700K at the NHL level and $115K in the AHL.
The 22-year old forward was a fifth-round selection of the Capitals in 2014, and signed his entry-level deal last spring after three years at the University of North Dakota. He made his NHL debut down the stretch for the Capitals and even got into two playoff contests during their Stanley Cup run. This season Gersich spent the entire year in the minor leagues with the Hershey Bears, but struggled at times to find much consistency. He finished with 24 points in 66 games, but still has a bright future.
Washington has a dozen other restricted free agents to deal with this offseason, including some high profile names like Jakub Vrana and Andre Burakovsky. Getting deals done for minor league players like Gersich relieves some of the work load, but certainly doesn’t make things easier on GM Brian MacLellan and his team. The salary cap has made life difficult for the Capitals front office in recent years, and they may need to start getting some NHL contributions from young players like Gersich in the near future.
Gersich will be a restricted free agent once again next summer.
His gf is an absolute smoke show. Bridgeolsen on IG
Coming into the season with Hershey, Gersich was touted as a top 6 forward, but he played more like a bottom six forward. He was a responsible player in his own zone and made good decisions. Offensively, he was all over the place. His shot is terrible and needs to improve big time. He took 125 shots, but only scored 8 goals. He can create chances with his speed, but he can’t convert them because his shot isn’t good enough