The Washington Capitals spent this entire season very close to the ceiling of the NHL’s $56.7 million salary cap. There is no official word on what that number is going to be for next season, but it is safe to say there isn’t likely to be another huge jump like the previous three offseasons.
Given that the Caps were one win from the NHL’s final four, it does make some sense that players on the team were lobbying for GM George McPhee to bring everyone back for another go round. But that’s just not likely to be financially possible, and if McPhee wants to make any out-of-house improvements, he’s going to have to shed some high-priced guys.
SEE RELATED:If anyone didn’t think the Caps need to unload a player or two (i.e. Jose Theodore or Michael Nylander), here’s what the Caps’ roster looks like right now (cap figures are for next season, or last season if said player is UFA/RFA):
FORWARDS
Alex Ovechkin, $9,538,462
Michael Nylander, $4,875,000
Alexander Semin, $ 4,600,000
Chris Clark, $2,633,333
Nicklas Backstrom, $2,400,000*
Brooks Laich, $2,066,667
Matt Bradley, $1,000,000
Tomas Fleischmann, $725,000
David Steckel, $725,000
Keith Aucoin, $487,500
Total = $29,050,962
UFA
Sergei Fedorov, $4,000,000
Viktor Kozlov, $2,500,000
Donald Brashear, $1,200,000
RFA
Eric Fehr, $735,000
Boyd Gordon, $725,000
Chris Bourque, $625,000
DEFENSEMEN
Mike Green, $5,250,000
Tom Poti, $3,500,000
Brian Pothier, $2,500,000
Karl Alzner, $1,675,000*
John Erskine, $1,250,000
Total = $14,175,000
RFA
Shaone Morrisonn, $1,975,000
Milan Jurcina, $881,000
Jeff Schultz, $750,000
GOALTENDERS
Jose Theodore, $4,500,000
Simeon Varlamov, $850,000
Total = $5,350,000
UFA
Brent Johnson, $812,500
TEAM TOTAL = $48,575,962
*Expected cap number with bonuses added in
SKINNY: That’s all but about $8 million of last year’s cap total used up on 17 players (without knowing Varlamov’s exact bonuses). If the Caps are confident in Alzner, would they walk away from another hefty arbitration award for Morrisonn? How big of a pay cut would Fedorov accept to come back? Can the Caps afford to pay Kozlov $2.5 million for his 12-15 goals?
Quite frankly, the Caps got lucky this year when Brian Pothier wasn’t ready for the first 3/4 of the season (at least with having to juggle the salary cap). Without removing Nylander or Theodore’s contracts, McPhee might not have much wiggle room to improve his club. Sure, there are some guys in the minors who could help, but are any of the forwards going to be upgrades or even equal to Kozlov or Fedorov? Is Alzner or Sami Lepisto (remember him?) or John Carlson as good or better than Morrisonn right now?
Yep, this should be a pretty interesting summer in CapsLand.
UPDATE: I did somehow forget Brooks Laich yesterday (he was a pending RFA last summer and I missed him when I went through the new contracts that were handed out — inexcusable). The totals have been corrected.
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