Team: 2020-21 Washington Capitals

Initial Creation Date: Sep. 1, 2020

Published: Sep. 1, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Based on MacLellan's press conference after Reirden was fired, it seemed like he was content with the players in the top six plus Eller, saying the top six Washington has should be competitive with anyone's in the league. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some pivoting in the strategy on the third line to be more depth scoring/offensively focused rather than having two defensively focused lines in the bottom six. Third line may be atrocious defensively, but there can be some adjustments made to balance that out if need be.

Defense needed the biggest face-lift, and Fehervary has played well in limited NHL minutes. He's solid defensively, and can move the puck, which should make him a good partner for Carlson. Adding DeMelo should help the right side of the defense, and is responsible enough to cover for Orlov's penchant for riverboat gambling.

Galchenyuk is a reclamation project of sorts. The Capitals had some good luck with Brett Connolly, a perceived first round draft bust, and might have similar luck with Galchenyuk.

On top of that, the signing of Zachary Fucale made it clear to me that MacLellan is comfortable riding with a goalie tandem of Samsonov/Vanecek or Samsonov/Copley. There are good options in free agency, but they're going to want term + money, and the cheaper goalies on the market probably aren't going to add much more than Vanecek could.

Best thing for this season is to come in with some cap padding, with Ovechkin, Vrana, and Samsonov entering contract years.

Contracts were based off the contract projections that Evolving Hockey put together.

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