Washington listed as the 6th beat cap situation entering free agency...
6. Washington Capitals
2022-23 salaries: $73,521,666
RFAs estimate: None
Dead money deals: None
Notable unsigned UFAs: Justin Schultz, Marcus Johansson, Johan Larsson
Problem contract: John Carlson
Projected cap space: $8.4 — $26 million, depending on LTIR decisions.
The Capitals, if they wish, could give themselves a significantly large chunk of space by putting Nicklas Backstrom ($9.2 million AAV) on LTIR to start the season — at minimum. Backstrom had hip resurfacing surgery (it’s as serious as it sounds) and plans to play again, but that’s far from a given. Tom Wilson ($5.166 cap hit) is going to be out until December after surgery on a torn ACL. It’s unclear whether Carl Hagelin ($2.75 million) will be able to return from a left eye injury. As Tarik El-Bashir wrote, that’d leave the Caps with 17 healthy skaters, no goaltenders and about $25 million in cap space. If that’s the route they take, they’d have to be considered players for Nazem Kadri and J.T. Miller. How many more bites at the apple with Alex Ovechkin are they going to get?
The issue is whether the rest of the roster is good enough to make big-ticket additions like that worth it. Backstrom, for what it’s worth, seems like the best LTIR candidate at this point, which would give Washington the ability to exceed the cap by about $16 million. There are just too many possibilities to settle on one number.
The less theoretical question for the Caps is what to do with their starting goaltender spot. Ilya Samsonov lost it last season, and Vitek Vanecek self-destructed in the playoffs. Vanecek is a Devil now, and Samsonov was not tendered a qualifying offer. Washington seems like a landing spot for UFA goalie Darcy Kuemper.