A Realistic Look At Next Season

Team: 2021-22 Washington Capitals

Initial Creation Date: May 29, 2021

Published: May 29, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

So, here's my projection for what the Capitals will be bringing to the table next year. I tried to do my best to set up both what I thought would be beneficial and likely options for the team to pursue.

I started at the beginning with three important tasks: re-sign important players (Ovechkin and Samsonov), clear cap space for the re-signed players and offer a blood sacrifice to Seattle that doesn't make the team immediately worse. Re-signing Ovechkin and Samsonov was pretty easy; Ovi isn't going anywhere and a 10M x 4 contract is hopefully an accurate estimate of what he's going to take. Samsonov is a little more contentious, but a 2M x 2 deal ought to tell us exactly what we want to know about his level of play and his future prospects.

Now the expansion draft is a little less clear for the team. Some people are suggesting that we should pull a giga-Chiarelli and let them take Kuznetzov, but I chose a more sensible option. Kempny hasn't played a NHL game in forever, but is supposed to be healthy for next season. Thus, being the player on the roster with the least clear value, Kempny is sacrificed to Seattle with a pick to make sure that they take him and not Vanecek while we sort out the long-term goalie situation.

After this, Jensen is moved to any team willing to pay with a decent pick to clear salary after a good year that brought his value up. TVR steps up in the lineup to replace Jensen, and Fehervary is expected to be a mainstay in the roster next year with a fluid position somewhere in the bottom four. No additional moves in the defense or forward lineups are necessary, and McMichael is brought in to play 13F interchangeable with Sprong in order to gain experience through the year.

On the Kuznetzov front: I'm not opposed to making a trade involving Kuzy, but I don't see a way to replace his (somewhat inconsistent) production while still keeping cap compliant. There are too many teams in need of a top 6 center for this season's UFAs to be affordable, and the UFA centers aren't all that enticing either. RNH is questionably able to run his own line, and Danault might not have the offensive punch needed to compete. Meanwhile, other targets to trade for would be a gamble to be even or a potential downgrade (Schmaltz, Monahan, W. Karlsson). Serious upgrades for Kuzy are straight up difficult to make happen like convincing the Sharks that they for some reason want to part ways with Hertl, or divining the correct number of body parts you would need to sell in order to land Eichel before shedding salary to actually fit him in. One potential trade I looked at that most seemed to not have is Kuzy for Sam Reinhart with a swap of picks, but I ultimately left it out due to uncertainty in equal trade value, contract cost and Reinhart's centering ability.

TLDR: Ovi never left, status quo stays in the forwards and goalies, Jensen leaves for cap space, Kempny shunted to Seattle

PS: Stop trying to force Oshie to Seattle. Not only is he still a valuable forward on a team trying to win now; you're making me sad.

1.

2.