Offseason Checklist: Washington Capitals

The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those that were eliminated early.  It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Washington.

For the majority of Alex Ovechkin’s time in Washington, the Capitals have been a team that has been in the thick of the playoff hunt.  It looked like that would continue through the first half of the season before they completely bottomed out down the stretch.  It seems unlikely that Washington will engage in a rebuild while Ovechkin is around so GM Brian MacLellan will be tasked with getting his veteran core back into the thick of things in 2023-24.  Here are some items that will be on his to-do list in the coming months.

Hire A Head Coach

First things first.  After mutually parting ways with veteran bench boss Peter Laviolette, the Capitals need to find a new head coach.  Generally speaking, a veteran-laden team will often want to have an experienced coach with a track record of getting short-term success.  There are some options out there if they opt to go that route including Gerard Gallant, Claude Julien, and even former Washington coach Bruce Boudreau.  Andrew Brunette, a current New Jersey assistant, doesn’t have as long of a track record as the others but could garner some consideration.

However, there will be plenty of speculation that will link them to Toronto assistant coach Spencer Carbery.  The 41-year-old has long ties to the Capitals organization, going back to his days coaching their ECHL and AHL affiliates before leaving for the Maple Leafs two years ago.  Carbery is viewed as an up-and-coming coach and given MacLellan’s familiarity with him, it’s reasonable to infer that he’ll be a strong candidate.  Washington has also been linked to Lightning assistant Jeff Halpern so even with a veteran roster, they’ll be casting a wide net to find their next head coach.

Sort Out Kuznetsov’s Future

It’s not often that a team that’s expected to try to be in the playoff mix the following season looks into the possibility of trading its number one center but it certainly feels like MacLellan is going to have to look into doing so.  A report from Match TV in Russia back in March suggested that Evgeny Kuznetsov twice requested a trade with a move clearly not coming to fruition.  Last month, it was revealed that he changed agents, further adding fuel to that fire.

The 30-year-old had one of his best seasons in 2021-22, picking up 54 assists and 78 points in 79 regular season games while picking up five points in their first-round exit.  However, he failed to carry that over this year with his point-per-game rate dropping to 0.68, the second-lowest over his nine full NHL seasons.  Along the way, he started to lose some playing time to Dylan Strome who, with a five-year, $25MM extension in hand, is now entrenched as a big part of Washington’s core moving forward.

Of course, even if Kuznetsov wants to be moved, it’s something that’s easier said than done.  Notwithstanding his partial trade protection, he has two years remaining on his contract which carries a $7.8MM AAV.  At his level of production from 2021-22, he’s worth that money.  At this season’s production, however, it’s a considerable overpayment.  What helps to mitigate the cap hit somewhat is that it’s a shorter-term agreement than what most centers will command in free agency.  A team looking for a short-term stopgap might prefer a trade for Kuznetsov over giving someone else a cheaper but longer-term commitment.

That all said, moving Kuznetsov would also open up a significant hole down the middle, especially with Nicklas Backstrom no longer the high-end playmaker he once was and Strome not being a true top middleman.  If they decide to rebuild, it’s not as much of a concern but if they are looking to compete for a playoff spot next season, they will need to find a way to convince Kuznetsov that staying is the best idea or find a way to bring back a top-six center either as part of the trade return or in another swap.

Create Cap Flexibility

Even after selling at the trade deadline, cap space is at a premium for the Capitals this summer after handing out new, more expensive deals to wingers Sonny Milano and Nicolas Aube-Kubel plus defensemen Nick Jensen and Trevor van Riemsdyk.  The end result is an increase in spending by $4.975MM based on their cap hits next season compared to 2022-23.  Accordingly, Washington enters the summer with just over $7.3MM in cap room, per CapFriendly, assuming that the Upper Limit only goes up by $1MM as expected.

A decent chunk of that remaining money will go toward re-signing RFA blueliner Martin Fehervary and after the 23-year-old logged 20 minutes a night this season, there’s a good chance his next deal will pass the $2MM mark.  It’s also likely that they’d like to re-sign pending UFA winger Connor Brown who was limited to just four games before suffering a season-ending ACL tear.  The injury might limit Brown’s market but even so, someone’s likely to offer at least a one-year, ‘show me’ deal around the $3.6MM cap charge he had on this now-expiring deal.  Re-sign those two and there might not even be enough to round out the roster with players on minimum-salaried contracts.

Again, a Kuznetsov trade could help on that front but if they don’t go that route, they will have to find other ways to free up cap space.  Moving winger Anthony Mantha and his $5.7MM cap charge would help but after another tough season, his deal isn’t one that teams will be lining up to acquire.  T.J. Oshie has two years left at $5.75MM but at the age of 36 and partial no-trade protection, that’s not an easy move to make either.  But if the Capitals want to add anyone of consequence this summer, they’re going to need to free up some cap room to make that happen.

Work On Wilson Extension

This season was a bit of an up-and-down year for winger Tom Wilson who missed the first half of the year after recovering from offseason ACL surgery.  When he was in the lineup, however, he was relatively productive, notching 13 goals in just 33 games, a 32-goal pace which was well above his career rates.  While he has a checkered history with the Department of Player Safety, Wilson has also been one of the most prominent power forwards in the league in recent years with his current deal often serving as a benchmark for deals for similar players in recent years.

That contract, a six-year, $31MM agreement, has just one year remaining on it which makes him eligible to sign an extension starting in July.  Wilson’s offensive production on this deal has been decent – 93 goals and 98 assists in 289 games – but, as it was before, offense alone won’t dictate the price of this next agreement.  He’ll be 30 when his next deal kicks in, meaning that a max-term extension of eight years could very well be on the table.  While eight years for a power forward might not sound great, it stands to reason that an agreement of that length could also help to keep the AAV of the deal a little lower.

Both Wilson and MacLellan have made it clear that they want to get a new deal in place.  They’ll have plenty of time this summer to see if they find a contract that both sides are happy with and ensure that a key part of their forward group will be sticking around for the long haul.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.