On the Washington Capitals …
JJ Regan: Pending UFA defenseman Karl Alzner said he’s still in the dark with regards to his contract status for next season.
Pierre LeBrun: “End of an era at least in some ways for the Capitals. Half the team on expiring contracts. Some re-tooling ahead. Time for a reboot of sorts. You feel for Caps management, when you talk to other GMs, they loved this team. But again fall short. Mind you, to the juggernaut Pens again”
JJ Regan of CSN Mid Atlantic: Signing forward Evgeny Kuznetsov to a contract extension could be Capitals GM Brian MacLellan‘s top priority this offseason. The 24-year old will be looking for a big raise from his expiring $3 million per season deal.
Johnny Gaudreau could be a comparable and he was signed to a six-year, $40.5 million ($6.75 million cap hit) deal before this past season.
Kuznetsov is arbitration eligible. Kuznetsov is over at the World Championships now and doesn’t seem concerned at the moment about a new deal.
Larry Brooks of the NY Post: Alex Ovechkin will be 32-years old soon and his physical play may be starting to take a toll. He has four years left on his deal and carries a salary cap hit of $9.528,462. Ovechkin also has a no-movement clause and any trade would need money to likely equal out.
Could a deal be worked out with the LA Kings? A package involving the rehabbing Marian Gaborik. The Kings may look at taking another run at Ilya Kovalchuk.
Capitals fans may buy into trading Ovechkin, but owner Ted Leonsis may not.
Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: GM MacLean will need to figure out how to fix the Capitals problem, one that doesn’t seem to be personnel-based. They will have lots of decisions to make this offseason.
The Capitals have 11 restricted and unrestricted free agents.
“I don’t know if minor cosmetic changes are gonna change anything, really,” Niskanen said. “It’s pretty clear that this group didn’t get it done, so what changes and how many or what level of changes, I don’t know what the answer is. Talent-wise and our potential is clearly there. That’s all fluff now. We need results.”
