Joined: Jun. 2018
Posts: 1,671
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Evolving-Hockey's contract projection tool (they've been pretty spot on historically) has Hoffman's most likely contract being 5 years with a $5.65M cap hit, but if he were to take a one year deal, they say it'll be $3.177M cap hit, so you're pretty close there.
I'd be interested in seeing Sprong in the top six. Oshie and Eller work really well together, and he could probably use some ice time reduction at 5 on 5. Something tells me that the Caps probably aren't going to go after anything big in free agency, except for maybe a second or third pairing LHD if Seattle takes Dillon. Kempny is a huge question mark coming back from an Achilles injury, a bad injury for a defenseman who relies on his skating a lot.
If the Caps end up moving on from Hagelin, I feel like Axel Jonsson-Fjallby may be his replacement. They have similar skill sets (with AJF's offense probably being a bit better). Figure a potential lineup for the Caps next season looks like:
Ovechkin - Kuznetsov - Wilson
Mantha - Backstrom - Sprong
Sheary - Eller - Oshie
AJF - Dowd - Hathaway
Orlov - Carlson
Fehervary - Schultz
UFA D - TvR