On the Vegas Golden Knights …
Greg Wyshynski of ESPN: Looking at the keys to the Golden Knight offseason.
1. Look to bring in some big names – The Golden Knights have $26 million in salary cap space. Do they re-visit Erik Karlsson trade talks or take a run at pending UFA defenseman John Carlsson. Maybe make a big offer to pending UFA center John Tavares.
2. Tough decision on a couple of their original players – Pending RFAs William Karlsson, Colin Miller and Shea Theodore will be looking for raises. James Neal and David Perron are pending UFAs and they could move on. Do they offer Ryan Reaves a contract?
3. Draft picks – They have seven 2018 draft picks – no first-round pick as they sent it to Detroit for Tomas Tatar. They have 12 picks in for the 2019 draft. Do they look to move some picks to bring in ready assets?
On the Washington Capitals …
Emily Kaplan of ESPN: Looking at the keys to the Capitals offseason.
1 Resolve their coaching situation – The Capitals didn’t offer Barry Trotz a contract extension during the season. There had been some speculation of friction with coaches and management and possibly within their coaches.
2. Re-sign pending UFA John Carlsson – Could require a six- or seven-year deal at around $7 million, which could be too much for the Capitals to fit in. Sounds like he wants to stay, but can they fit him in?
3. Clear salary cap space – Buying out defenseman Brooks Orpik could be one option to clear some cap space. Jay Beagle comes off the books, but Tom Wilson needs a new contract. Michal Kempny and Devante Smith-Pelly are also pending free agents. They might have to trade forward Andre Burakovsky, and they could sell high on backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer.
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