Team: 2020-21 Washington Capitals

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 18, 2020

Published: Jun. 18, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

This is hoping that the flat cap combined with Vatanen's injury this past season brings his value down a bit and the Caps can get him at a decent value. Moving Jensen along for a few draft picks would be great, especially if we can get the upgrade to Vatanen.

Crawford is signed on a one year deal to 1A/1B with Samsonov for the year until Vanecek comes up next year. We should give Vanecek a game or three this year just to give him a taste of the NHL and keep Sammy/Crawford a little fresher.

Swapping Lucas Johansen for Evgeny Svechnikov makes sense for both parties. Both players are in need of opportunities in different organizations, and the Red Wings have a lot of quality wing prospects but not a lot of LHD, and vise versa for Washington.

At the draft, the Caps take Topi Niemela round 1. He's a very good skating defenseman that is very raw and can easily develop into a quality top four defenseman. They need a top four RHD to slot behind Carlson down the road and Niemela can fit the bill.
In round 3 the Caps take Emil Heineman. He has a high motor, good skating and an underrated offensive skillset. He has a nose for the net and should be able to make a bottom six living, if not more.
In round 4 the Caps take one of my favorite sleepers in the draft, Ivan Didkovsky. He has a lot of offensive skills, he's just a very raw. Having him develop in Russia for the next three years could lead to him being a steal late in the draft.

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