Offseason decisions for the Capitals
Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic: The Washington Capitals haven’t completely ruled out bringing Braden Holtby back, and have told his agent they’d stay in contact. He’s expected to get more money and term in free agency than the Capitals are willing to do.
The Capitals are trying to get defenseman Brenden Dillon signed to an extension.
Radko Gudas and Ilya Kovalchuk are expected to hit free agency.
The Caps may have a decision to make with Travis Boyd. He’s an RFA with arbitration rights and he could be awarded a deal higher than they’d like to pay.
The Capitals are not expected to buy anyone out.
Will the Caps go with Vitek Vanecek as a backup to Ilya Samsonov or will they look to sign a veteran backup. Vanecek has no NHL experience.
Will the Jets use Laine to fill their blue line or can they find another option?
Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic: Winnipeg Jets forward Patrik Laine has a year left at $6.75 million and it’s going to go up on his next deal.
The Jets have a big hole on their blue line and they need to address it this offseason.
They might be able to re-sign Dylan DeMelo which would help.
Alex Pietrangelo, Torey Krug or Tyson Barrie may not be interested in going to Winnipeg. The Jets may have to make a big trade to get the Dman they need.
There has been speculation that the Columbus Blue Jackets may have interest in Laine, but can’t see them wanting to trade either Seth Jones or Zach Werenski.
The Carolina Hurricanes may be interested and are deep on the blue line. Dougie Hamilton is a year away from free agency, so unlikely. Brett Pesce may be of interest and he’s under contract for another four years.
Laine for Matt Dumba makes some sense, but the Wild need a center.
Maybe the Jets and Blue Jackets could work something out for defenseman Ryan Murray.