- Chuck Gormley of CSN Washington: Capitals GM Brian MacLellan on pending UFA Mike Green and if he could come back next season.
“I think it’s going to come down to if he’s comfortable with that role and what do you pay for that role going forward. It’s probably going to be a little complicated. There are a lot of moving parts around that. I think the best thing we can do is keep in communication. Tell him what we’re thinking and he can tell us what they’re thinking and if it works out, that’ll be great. And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I have this afternoon. To play in that spot as a fifth guy that can move up, there’s a dollar value on that and if we can afford that we’ll try to work it into the cap.”
On pending UFA Eric Fehr.
“He’s good defensively; he’s got a good stick. And he contributed offensively 5-on-5 , which is hard to do in this league while playing against good players. And so, we’d love to have him back.”
On finding a right winger to play with Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin.
“It’s on the shopping list. I think it would be a priority for us if we can find a guy that can play there. I don’t know that the UFA market is going to provide that for us. We’ll see what happens in the trade market here coming up, see if we can find that.”
On pending UFA Tim Gleason.
“We’ll consider . That will be down the road, I think, depending on what happens with Mike Green. We’re going to have Schmidt and Orlov integrated into our lineup, so there might not be room for the guy. But we’ll see how it works out.”
- Chuck Gormley of CSN Washington: Capitals GM MacLellan on re-signing RFA Braden Holtby to a long-term or bridge contract.
“I think we’re open to both. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll talk with his representation and him and see what works best for him and what’s best for the organization.”
On being able to re-sign RFAs and having enough money for UFAs.
“We’ve done some homework on guys and we have a range where we think it’s good value for us and for them. I think it’s important for players to realize that we’ve had a successful team and if they believe we have a good chance moving forward to win a championship they recognize that going for max dollars, which could make the choice to do in certain situations, it would hinder our ability to compete going forward.”
On UFA Joel Ward.
“Term is going to be an issue, I think, there, going forward. I mean, if we can work in a good number and we feel Joel can continue to play at the level he’s playing at, we’ll work it out.”