Guessing the Caps in 2 years

Team: 2023-24 Washington Capitals

Initial Creation Date: Mar. 28, 2022

Published: Mar. 28, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Time for some guesswork that will likely go haywire, but oh well...

First prediction is that I have a bad feeling that Oshie may suffer a career ender due to his extensive injury history and constant injury status this year. I really hope he's able to see his career out in DC, but I have a sneaking suspicion something bad will happen. If it does, we should hire him as an assistant coach as soon as possible.

Next, Hathaway should get an extension. He's been absolutely amazing in both Laviolette and Reirden's systems, and is worth the 1.5-1.75 he will likely get.

Then comes the defense: Orlov should get a healthy extension, he's one of, if not the best defenseman in DC, and his versatility is well worth the contract. I see him getting a 4 x 5.5, but I can see him getting up to 6 mil. Then, Fehervary, who has been pretty good this year. I think he gets 2 or 3 years at about 3 million, to bridge him to his big boy contract when Washington no longer has the major cap hits of Backstrom and Oshie on the books. Jensen should get about what he's making currently, he had a great start but has tapered off a bit in my eyes. still, he should be decent value for a 2-3RD. The rest of the d will get smaller deals to prove themselves.

Goalies: I see Samsonov getting 2 years this coming offseason, at a slight pay raise to appease him. I think he's far better than what the stats show, and giving him this contract will be a chance to rise above the incessant and misdirected hate towards him. As for VV, his run of form late this season may be enough to garner a decent contract. There are still fair doubts about him, but I think Washington will keep him around. a 3x3 seems reasonable for his current skills and play. Possibly a bit more but not much.

Lines: First two lines seems pretty set, with the only possible change being Washington possibly moving Backstrom to LW and letting McMichael play his natural position as the 2C. The third line is pretty shaky, but right now I see Larsson resigning as the defensive guy on the 3rd line. His defensive ability could be a good foil to the more speedy Protas and Lapierre. Not quite sure about his true value, so this is slight guesswork. Another possibility could be letting Larsson walk, and plugging Snively into the 3LW role.

PP and PK are pretty loose guesses, especially the PK defense.

Got kinda lazy on the minor RFAs.

Conclusion: WSH is actually in a better position than I originally thought, with the youth movement possibly starting (finally), WSH should be able to recover semi-easily when the twilight years of Ovi and Backy are over. Seems like a team for built for a retool than a full on rebuild.

Oh man, I wrote way too much here.