Would stay clear of Kadri given he had the season of a lifetime at 31. Overpays for Mikheyev, Lyubushkin, and Hagg, whos roles can be filled a lot cheaper with hershey callups/prospects. MacLellan has also already said that 1) McMichael will play center, so Eller would be moved if they signed Kadri and 2) they are going to upgrade goaltending and not run back samsonov and vanacek. Finally, they will spend to the cap and not leave 3.1 mil in empty space.

I think Kadri performs well over his next deal. He always had the tools to get the job done; his biggest hurdle existed between the ears. The Avs have believed in him (even when they had good reason to cast him aside), and let him play with his natural offensive confidence, and he's learned that he doesn't have to be so tough all the time to be effective. This season Naz has also had to be 1C quite often as Nate missed time, and looked great doing it. As he ages, he'll lose some quickness, but I feel like he'll fit in just fine with a veteran Caps squad.

That being said, he'll be 32 on Oct 6th and it might be better to shave a year or two off this deal.

Kadri will never live up to that deal. I'd gladly take him but he'll cost way more than what he's worth.

Where did MacLellan say all that? I can’t find it anywhere, and I can’t imagine he lays all his cards out on the table and commits to spending to the Cap when the Fehervary, Orlov, and Jensen contracts all expire next year.

I don't remember GMBM saying that he was going to spend to the cap either. I think the only thing he said is that goaltending is his #1 priority.

I don't think there's a clear strategy for the off-season until Backstrom decides what his plan is going to be. I'm sure they're planning in each possible Backstrom scenario, but I'd be really surprised if they're planning to spend to the cap if Backstrom is planning on coming back this year or next.

He didn't explicitly say either of those things, but did say that he and laviolette agree McMichael's best position is center, as well as saying that taking care of goaltending is the #1 priority, so reading between the lines gets you to those two points. Obviously if Wilson or Backstrom is coming back mid-season they will leave cap space open for them. If not though, they will spend to the cap or close to it as they always have for all of the ovechkin era