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Metropolitan Notes: Capitals, Nelson, Zibanejad, Myers

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If it ain’t broke. Don’t fix it. At least that seems to be what the Washington Capitals believe. After capturing the Stanley Cup last season, the team completed one of its final moves when it locked up forward Tom Wilson to a six-year, $31-year deal. And suddenly, the team miraculously has managed to bring back almost its entire roster for next season, according to J.J. Regan of Yahoo Sports.

While all teams are forced to shake up their roster and allow for the losses of free agents after each season, the Capitals are an unusual situation, considering the number of potential free agents as well as how tight their salary cap has been over the past two years. It wasn’t going to get any better, yet still, the team still was able to re-sign stud defenseman John Carlson (eight years, $64MM) as well as find a creative way to trade defenseman Brooks Orpik to Colorado and then bring him back after the Avalanche waived him. They also managed to hold onto trade deadline acquisition Michal Kempny (four years, $10MM).

Sure, the team did suffer a couple of losses, including the loss of fourth-line center Jay Beagle and backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer. However, the team has people ready to step into those positions, including prospect Travis Boyd, free agent acquisition Nic Dowd as well as place long-time minor leaguer Pheonix Copley to fill in for a year, while the team waits for superstar prospect Ilya Samsonov to develop in the AHL for a year.

  • Andrew Gross of Newsday wonders whether the New York Islanders would consider moving center Brock Nelson for a defenseman, now that the 26-year-old has agreed to a one-year, $4.25MM deal with the team. With quite a bit of youth in the wings and the team in desperate need for blueline help and the fact that Nelson could walk away from the team as an unrestricted free agent next season, a trade might make a lot of sense. Nelson has been quite productive for New York, posting at least 19 goals in his last four seasons.
  • The Athletic’s Rick Carpinello (subscription required) analyzes and grades the season of New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad, who took over the team’s No. 1 center position last season after the team traded away Derek Stepan. Many of the same questions about Stepan not being a No. 1 center now have fallen to Zibanejad. Yet, the 25-year-old definitely took his game up a notch, posting a career-high 27 goals in 72 games, but once again suffered an injury that interrupted his season. It marks the second straight year that Zibanejad has struggled with injuries, which is a concern and the center still must work on his consistency, including the fact that he posted no goals and one assist in the final seven games.
  • Dave Isaac of the Cherry Hill Courier Post writes that if the Philadelphia Flyers are impressed by the play of 6-foot-5 prospect Philippe Myers in training camp this year, that could impact the role of defenseman Radko Gudas, who could then be on his way out as Myers physicality could replace Gudas role as well as the fact that Myers and Travis Sanheim were a great pair when they were together with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL.

Capitals Sign Tom Wilson To Six-Year Extension

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Saturday: CapFriendly has a breakdown of Wilson’s six-year, $31MM contract. Wilson will also have a modified NTC, which includes a 10-team no trade list for 2020-21 and 2021-22, followed by a seven-team no-trade list f0r 2022-23 and 2023-24.

2018-19: $1.1M Base + $5M SB
2019-20: $1.5M Base + $3M SB
2020-21: $2.1M Base + $2M SB
2021-22: $3.1M Base + $3M SB
2022-23: $2.1M Base + $2M SB
2023-24: $5.1M Base + $1M SB

Friday: The defending Stanley Cup champions have their muscle in place for the next several years. The Washington Capitals announced this evening that they have re-signed restricted free agent forward Tom Wilson to a six-year, $31MM contract extension. Wilson’s annual cap hit will be $5.17MM through 2023-24. CapFriendly reports that $15MM of the contract is in base salary and the other $16MM is in signing bonuses, while adding that the final three years of the contract carry a Modified No-Trade Clause. Wilson himself tweeted out his excitement to be remaining in D.C. for the foreseeable future.

At first glance, the first impression of this contract is that it might be an over-payment by the Capitals. This salary over this amount of time puts Wilson in a similar bracket with recent signings like Jonathan Marchessault, Josh Bailey, Alexander Wennberg, and Mikael Backlund – all players relied on as primary offensive contributors for their teams. Wilson is not that type of player for Washington, rather a two-way forward known more for his aggressive defensive play and checking ability. In fact, it is hard to think of any forward with Wilson’s career production to date ever landing a contract worth more than $5MM per year. However, the Capitals have always been clear about how highly they regard the young power forward. GM Brian MacLellan reiterated those feelings in the team’s release, stating:

“Tom is an invaluable member of our team and we are pleased that he will play a great part in our foreseeable future. Tom is a unique player in this League. At 24 years of age, he has an impressive amount of experience and we believe that he will only continue to grow and improve as a player. With his ability to play in virtually any game situation, teams need players like Tom in order to succeed in the NHL.”

Wilson certainly helped himself in negotiations with his postseason performance. His five goals and ten assists made him a crucial piece to Washington’s cap run. His playoff heroics were also cited by the team in the release and that clutch factor is yet another reason that the Capitals feel so strongly about Wilson moving forward. Add that to career-high’s across the board and it makes some sense why the team may see Wilson’s value on the rise.

With Wilson’s contract complete, the Capitals have signed all of their restricted free agents and CapFriendly currently projects that they will enter the season with the third-highest payroll and only $1.1MM in cap space. Interestingly, the money used to afford Wilson this season is just about $300K of what Washington would have been paying defenseman Brooks Orpik before he was traded to and subsequently bought out by the Colorado Avalanche. Orpik has since resigned with the Caps for $1MM and Wilson gets the money he wanted. Everything has worked out nicely for the Stanley Cup champs this off-season. With most of their roster returning and most of their core signed long-term, Wilson and the Capitals may have another Cup run in them over the course of this contract.

Brooks Orpik Signs With Washington Capitals

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After being traded and bought out earlier this summer, Brooks Orpik is heading back to the Washington Capitals. The team announced a one-year $1MM contract for the veteran defenseman, which will also carry up to $500K in performance bonuses.  Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that Orpik will receive $250K once he plays in 20 games and another $250K when he reaches the 40-game plateau.

Orpik, 37, was deemed too expensive to keep around on his previous contract and was attached to the Philipp Grubauer trade with the Colorado Avalanche. That limited the return for the Capitals to just a second-round pick, but also removed Orpik’s $5.5MM contract from the books. That was extremely important given that the Capitals needed to re-sign John Carlson, Michal Kempny and Tom Wilson (among others) this offseason, and may not have been able to fit everyone in under the salary cap. Avalanche GM Joe Sakic was immediately clear that he would either trade Orpik somewhere he was wanted or buy him out to allow him to search for another opportunity, since Colorado didn’t have plans to use him as they continue to get younger and more skilled.

The buyout, which was the eventual course of action, means that Colorado is paying Orpik $1.5MM this year and next to not play for their team and will incur a cap penalty of $2.5MM this season. That doesn’t both them, but was an impossibility for the Capitals while still having enough space to sign everyone else. Another impossibility would be re-signing Orpik after the buyout had they done it themselves, as it is prohibited by the CBA. Not when it’s another team who completes it though, meaning Orpik was free to return to the team that he won a Stanley Cup just this season. With his potential $1.5MM salary this season should he hit all of his performance bonuses, Orpik actually isn’t losing a single dollar from the $4.5MM he was supposed to be paid for 2018-19.

His role with Washington though may be greatly diminished. Though Orpik was a key player for the team in their magical Stanley Cup run, the team obviously has intentions of using Madison Bowey and Christian Djoos more going forward, and with Kempny in town for the whole season there will already be a lack of available minutes. Even past that, Orpik had clearly lost a step during the season and posted some of the poorest possession statistics in the entire league. What he will bring though is a ton of experience and the ability to move in and out of the lineup when necessary. The veteran of 982 regular season games and two Stanley Cups will no doubt play a role in the Capitals encore performance, but it might just be that of a part-time player.

What Happened To The Antoine Vermette Market?

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Approaching July 1st this year, one name had been given a somewhat surprising amount of attention. Veteran center Antoine Vermette, who was coming off the least productive season of his long career, was nevertheless reported to be a target of several teams by several different sources. TVA’s Renaud Lavoie went so far as to say that with a high demand for centermen, there was “significant interest” across the league in Vermette. Yet, three weeks later, he remains a free agent with little to no discussion of any potential landing spots.

What could have caused Vermette’s market to fall apart? It could be that many teams taking a look at the two-way pivot were able to land superior options, while others found comparable players at a cheaper price. Vermette hasn’t made under $1MM in a season since 2006 and at 36 years old he may not have been willing to return to that price point to extend his career. However, several other unrestricted free agent centers with similar (and superior) 2017-18 production have signed at cap hit between the $650K minimum and Vermette’s previous $1.75MM salary. They include Matt Cullen and Derek Grant to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Kyle Brodziak to the Edmonton Oilers, and Vermette’s Anaheim teammate Chris Wagner to the Boston Bruins, as well as Connor Brickley to the Nashville Predators, Paul Carey to the Ottawa Senators, and Michael Sgarbossa to the Washington Capitals. That’s at least six teams who likely kicked the tires on Vermette but may have found a better fit at an more comfortable price in who they decided to sign.

The other possibility is that the market was overblown in the first place. It did seem as though Vermette was slowing down substantially last season. The 14-year veteran recorded eight goals and eight assists for 16 points with the Ducks last season; each of those marks is Vermette’s lowest since his rookie year in 2003-04. His physicality tailed off and he was not as successful with his trademark defensive play, lagging in turnovers and zone exits and posting career-low possession numbers. Vermette was still dominant at the face-off dot, but teams may have been overplaying that one trait and Vermette’s years of experience, when other options with higher potential for offense and defense were waiting for them on the open market.

It could be that Vermette’s name value alone lands him a job this summer. It may be that he was overpricing himself early on to teams or that the market simply never developed, but it seems unlikely that if the well-respected and well-traveled center wanted to play next season, that he couldn’t find a shot somewhere. However, the demand is not what it once was in the past and not what it was made out to be earlier this month. Perhaps Vermette’s time to hang up the skate has come.

Washington Capitals Re-Sign Madison Bowey

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The Washington Capitals still have to reach a contract with Tom Wilson, but are close to inking all of their restricted free agents this summer. Madison Bowey is the latest to re-sign with the Capitals on a two-year contract worth a total of $2MM.

Bowey, 23, made his NHL debut last season and ended up playing 51 games with the Capitals. Though he didn’t see any time in the playoffs, he still was able to experience the run with the team and celebrate them winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. That experience should come in handy this season when Bowey will be asked to be a full-time contributor to the team, anchoring the bottom pairing with either Christian Djoos or Michal Kempny, depending on how the season goes along.

Still waiting for his first NHL goal, Bowey showed that he could be a capable puck mover at even-strength and racked up 12 assists in his shortened season despite limited minutes. That total could certainly improve going forward as the second-round pick gains more confidence at the NHL level and is given a bigger role. The league is short on capable right-handed options, and if Bowey can prove his worth the Capitals would have one of the strongest right sides in the league with John Carlson and Matt Niskanen ahead of him. Those two and Dmitri Orlov will be earning the lion’s share of the salary on the back end, leaving young players like Bowey and Djoos for the team to rely upon at a relatively low price.

Minor Transactions: 7/18/18

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The past few days have been a busy stretch for fringe NHL free agents deciding whether to hold out for a big league deal or look elsewhere. Significant names such as Torrey Mitchell and Teemu Pulkkinen have signed overseas, while other players have settled for minor league employment. Similar deals have continued throughout the day:

  • Count Michael Latta as a player making the jump across the Atlantic. Or would it be the Pacific? Latta has signed with the Kunlun Red Star, the sole Chinese member of the KHL. He announced the deal himself today, while European insider Aivis Kalnins adds that it is a one-year contract. Latta, who is most well known for his days as a serviceable bottom-six regular with the Washington Capitals, has actually not played in an NHL game since 2015-16 in D.C. Latta has landed NHL contracts in each of the past two off-seasons with the Los Angeles Kings and Arizona Coyotes respectively and has even been a sought-after trade acquisition in both years, but nevertheless has played only in the AHL. Latta’s numbers in the minors are not all that impressive either, so perhaps his move to the KHL presents an opportunity for his two-way game to be better appreciated.
  • Veteran forward Mike Blunden is making a similar move but to a lesser-known team and league. The long-time depth forward has made an NHL appearance in all but one season since turning pro in 2006, including multiple seasons where more than half of his time was spent at the top level, but saw only three games with the Ottawa Senators over the course of his recently-expired two-year contract. A proven scorer in the AHL, Blunden is likely in pursuit of a new opportunity and higher compensation outside of North America. Per a team release, Blunden has signed a contract with HC Bolzano of the Austria-based EBEL. However, the “Foxes” are actually located in Italy and are the premiere pro team of the country. Bolzano is the reigning EBEL champion and has been loading up this off-season to defend their title, adding Blunden and fellow AHLers Leland Irving, Brett Findlay, and Matt MacKenzie. Blunden could turn out to be a top scorer for the team this season.
  • Experienced goaltender Tom McCollum is not quite ready to leave North America or even the Great Lakes region. The Buffalo-area native has spent all but one season of his nine-year pro career in the Detroit Red Wings system, appearing in over 250 games with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. However, without an offer from the Red Wings or presumably an AHL offer from the Griffins this summer, McCollum has decided to take his talents to their arch rival. The Milwaukee Admirals have announced that they have signed the veteran netminder to a one-year minor league deal. The team’s release calls McCollum a “proverbial thorn in the Admirals’ side” for years, but he has now joined them in their pursuit of a Calder Cup. Milwaukee’s parent club, the Nashville Predators, could also come calling if injuries strike; the team has just three goalies signed who have pro experience in North America.
  • Forward Tyler Randell is sticking around in the AHL as well. The 27-year-old enforcer has been unable to land a two-way NHL contract, but will settle for a minor league deal. The Rochester Americans have announced that they have signed Randell to a one-year AHL contract. Randell, a 2009 sixth-round draft pick of the Boston Bruins, is an impressive physical force and a smart defensive player. He even earned himself 27 NHL games with the Bruins in 2015-16 and a nice $700K free agent contract from the Ottawa Senators last summer. However, his offensive game is severely limited at all levels and it’s no surprise that his NHL market was lacking this off-season after an eight-point campaign with the Belleville Senators last season. Randell brings energy and grit to Rochester, but if his scoring doesn’t improve in consistency and frequency, he’s unlikely to end up back in the NHL.

Snapshots: Rangers, Wilson, Mitchell

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The New York Rangers have hired David Oliver and Greg Brown as assistant coaches, rounding out David Quinn’s new staff in preparation for 2018-19. Lindy Ruff, a holdover from the last staff, will also be retained as an assistant. Oliver actually hired Quinn as head coach when working as GM of the Lake Erie Monsters, and even served as an assistant for him before the head coach was promoted to Colorado and then departed for Boston University.

Brown is coming in from Boston College where he has spent nearly a decade and a half, coaching elite collegiate talents including Rangers forwards Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes. Quinn should be quite familiar with Brown from their days coaching against each other at the college level, and will try to bring a new enthusiasm and style to the Rangers as they continue to rebuild their NHL organization.

  • Tom Wilson is still without a contract, and according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post the Capitals preference is to work out a long-term deal with the power forward. The two sides have had “steady dialogue” and GM Brian MacLellan admitted that he’s the top priority right now. Even if a deal isn’t imminent, it’s clear that there will be something done to keep Wilson playing for the Capitals for some time. After a successful season with 35 points, Wilson really dominated in the playoffs for the Capitals and recorded 15 points in 21 games while making an impact physically on almost every shift. Selected in the first round six years ago with a hope that he’d turn into a premiere power forward in the NHL, the Capitals and Wilson are starting to see the results of his hard work.
  • Torrey Mitchell has signed a one-year contract in Switzerland, leaving the NHL after a decade and 666 regular season games. The 33-year old forward recorded 11 points last season while suiting up for 60 games between the Montreal Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings, but may not have received much interest in free agency. He’ll join Lausanne HC for next season to hit the ice with other former NHL players like Joel Vermin, Dustin Jeffrey and Christoph Bertschy.

Capitals Hire Reid Cashman As Assistant Coach

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New Washington Capitals head coach Todd Reirden has begun filling out his staff. Just as Reirden was promoted internally, he has made his first hire from within. According to Mark Divver of the Providence Journal, the Capitals have hired Reid Cashman as an assistant coach. Cashman has been an assistant coach with the Hersey Bears, Washington’s AHL affiliate, for the past two years but is set to make the jump. While the team has yet to formally announce the hiring, Divver’s report last night has since been followed up by confirmation from a local radio source and a former colleague of Cashman’s.

It has been a meteoric rise for the 35-year-old coach. Cashman was still playing in the AHL less than a decade ago – including a season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins with Reirden as his coach – after a highly successful collegiate career at Quinnipiac University. He then returned to his alma mater as an assistant right after his playing days were over and coached the Bobcats until 2016. He then joined the Bears and just two years later is already on to the NHL level with the Capitals.

A high-scoring defenseman in his time, Cashman will be tasked with working on the Washington blue line as the replacement to the departed Lane Lambert. His style as a player and experience as a coach at the younger levels should stand to benefit Capitals defensemen like Dmitry Orlov, Christian Djoos, Madison Bowey, and rookie hopeful Lucas Johansen. The defending champs need their younger players on the back end to step up this season with some lacking depth and Cashman will be the man to get them going.

Washington Capitals Re-Sign Liam O’Brien

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Another restricted free agent has avoided arbitration, as the Washington Capitals today announced that Liam O’Brien has signed a one-year two-way contract worth $650K at the NHL level. O’Brien was scheduled to have an arbitration hearing on July 23rd, but will no longer require it. He will still be a restricted free agent at the end of this contract.

O’Brien, 23, has never been known for his scoring ability, but instead as one of the hardest working players on the ice every night. Even in junior he seemed to never take a shift off, and would engage physically at every chance he had. Since joining the Capitals as an undrafted free agent in 2014, he’s continued to work and develop as something other than a bruising option and scored a career-high 17 goals last season for the Hershey Bears. He also recorded the fewest penalty minutes of his professional career as the AHL continues to move further away from fights and enforcers, and model itself after the increasingly quick and skilled game found at the highest level.

To keep his career moving forward in that skilled world, O’Brien has continued to work on his puck skills and speed and is now a valued offensive component of the Hershey attack. He finished second on the team in goals last season, and could be relied upon even more now that Chris Bourque has moved on to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. If the Capitals face injuries he could also be a short-term replacement in the bottom-six, and try to follow in the footsteps of Tom Wilson who plays a similarly physical game, albeit with a touch more skill and success.

Offseason Keys: Washington Capitals

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The offseason is now in full swing with the draft complete and free agency now underway.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in the weeks to come?  Our Offseason Keys series wraps up with a look at the Washington Capitals.

Before the celebrations of their Stanley Cup title even ended, the Capitals got busy when it came to accomplishing some offseason objectives.  They locked up John Carlson long-term, got out of Brooks Orpik’s contract, and hired a new coach…all before July came around.  Despite accomplishing a lot of their keys early on, Washington still has some work to do this summer before they look to defend their title.

New Deal For Wilson

For several years, winger Tom Wilson has had the reputation of primarily being a physical forward but he took a big step forwards towards changing that last season as he posted career highs across the board with 14 goals, 21 assists, and 187 PIMS in 78 games.  He also saw his role increase dramatically as he went from a bottom-six forward to someone that was frequently riding shotgun on the top line.  He followed up that performance with an even better showing in the playoffs where he picked up 15 points (5-10-15) in 21 contests.

Interestingly, while Wilson was eligible for salary arbitration, he opted not to file in advance of Thursday’s deadline.  That leaves him still eligible for an offer sheet but the biggest takeaway from this is that a guaranteed deal well in advance of the season isn’t necessarily going to be the case.

GM Brian MacLellan has frequently stated that his preference is to sign Wilson long-term but it poses the question of what he’s worth on that type of contract.  Yes, he’s coming off of a strong season but his previous career high in points heading into last year was only 23.  That type of point production from a forward isn’t something that typically yields a long-term commitment.  Instead, a ‘prove it’ bridge deal is often the route that gets taken and it will be interesting to see if they shift towards that if they can’t come to terms on a long-term pact.  As Wilson is just 24, they can safely do so and still have him under team control at the end of the year.

Add A Veteran Goaltender

With Philipp Grubauer off to Colorado as part of a draft night trade, the Caps have lost a big security blanket behind Braden Holtby.  It was only a few months ago that Grubauer actually got the nod to start the postseason and while Holtby eventually reclaimed the starting role and played quite well after, he did struggle in 2017-18 and having Grubauer behind him gave them the opportunity to let him sit back and regain his form with a lot less pressure.

As things stand, Pheonix Copley is set to open the season as Washington’s backup.  The 26-year-old has a total of two career NHL appearances and isn’t exacting coming off of a confidence-inspiring minor league campaign, one that saw him post a 2.91 GAA and a .896 SV% in 41 games.  He brings some value in that he has a league-minimum cap hit but Washington could certainly stand to do better.

Whether it’s looking at someone like Kari Lehtonen or Steve Mason in free agency or simply adding a third-stringer with a bit more NHL experience, bringing someone else in would be helpful.  Ilya Samsonov is now signed and is the goalie of the future but asking him to take on the starting reins in his rookie AHL season if something happens to Holtby would be risky.  MacLellan has done well to give them some wiggle room financially and spending some of those savings on some insurance between the pipes would be wise.

Add Defensive Depth

While Washington is expected to give youngsters Madison Bowey and Christian Djoos longer looks next season, it would still be a little risky going into the season with those two as the bottom pair and not much support behind them.  Orpik’s deal was cleared out last month while Jakub Jerabek, a late-season addition, remains an unrestricted free agent.  In the system, Aaron Ness has a little bit of NHL experience but isn’t someone that’s going to be counted on for more than a few games here and there.

Basically, the Capitals need to replace Orpik with a similar veteran on a short-term deal (or simply re-sign Orpik as he was bought out by Colorado).  Fortunately for them, the market on veteran blueliners has been slow to develop so this is something they can slow play a bit unless there is a specific player they’re targeting.  There will be defenders that will be looking for cheap deals or PTOs in late August/early September and Washington should have a favorable pitch given the year they just had and a spot potentially up for grabs.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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