Washington Capitals Rumors: Mike Green Wants To Stay, But Return Depends On Holtby
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Capitals have a number of free agents this summer. One of them is Mike Green. Mike Green, according to a recent article, would like to stay with the Washington Capitals. Green says that he feels at home and that he loves playing for the Washington Capitals.
"“My heart is in Washington,” Green said. “It always will be until something else happens. My focus is here. My focus is winning a championship here and giving that to the fans. As an organization, that’s what we want as a team. I’m a part of that until the day I die or retire.”When I asked if the Caps have spoken with his agent about the parameters of a new deal, Green was unsure.“You know what, I don’t pay attention,” Green responded. “Maybe they have. I’m just focused on what we’re doing here this season. If I get wrapped up in that, then that’s a distraction.”“I don’t want any distractions this year,” Green concluded. “I’m just focused on one goal and it’s the team’s goal: to win a Cup.” – Russian Machine Never Breaks"
Unless Green plans on dying or retiring very soon, that means that Mike Green is open to re-signing with the Washington Capitals and that he would actually prefer to re-sign with them. That’s a very good thing. However, according to another recent report by Elliote Friedman, there is one huge obstacle that the Washington Capitals have to overcome if they want to re-sign Green.
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"Capitals defenceman Mike Green told the web site Russian Machine Never Breaks that his “heart is in Washington,” and he sees himself, “a part of that until the day I die or I retire.” This is one of those negotiations where you see a player who wants to stay paired with a team happy at his performance and acceptance of a smaller role.That’s usually a good sign, but this is dependent on Braden Holtby’s next contract. Washington has to work around it and Holtby’s having a huge year. Will Green be content with what remains? – 30 Thoughts"
There are other contracts to consider, but Holtby’s will be the most important one by far. To make matters more complicated, usually the top RFAs are not interested in signing early. They tend to wait for the best offer from their team. Marcus Johansson and Evgeny Kuznetsov are also RFAs who the Caps need to worry about. If the Washington Capitals want to re-sign Green, they’ll have to be aggressive, creative, and probably a bit lucky.
Here is a 2015 salary cap projection for the Washington Capitals. I used conservative estimates to re-sign Holtby, Johansson, Kuznetsov, and Eric Fehr.
Cap hits and salaries courtesy of
Assuming that the cap ceiling rises to $71,500,000, the Caps would have $6,378,204 left to sign players. That could be enough to sign Green and have some cash left over as well. I think something in the $4,500,000 to $5,500,000 range would be enough to keep Green. So, assuming that Holtby, Johansson, Kuznetsov, and Fehr all don’t want to get hugely overpaid, keeping Green seems reasonable. The Caps would need another right wing, but they could sign prospect Riley Barber and bring him up. He’d be on an entry level contract, which means that he’d have a minimal cap hit.
However, Holtby’s contract might not be the hugest obstacle in their way. The biggest obstacle could be the salary cap ceiling. It is supposed to go up, but the Canadian dollar could make it shrink from $71,500,000. To counter that, I think the Washington Capitals shouldn’t wait for anything. They should immediately try to get their RFAs to sign by being aggressive. If Green hits the open market, he’s likely gone because some team is going to laughably over pay for him. If the RFAs won’t sign early, the Washington Capitals would need to try to trade someone like Brooks Laich and/or Troy Brouwer to ensure that they have enough cap space to bring back their vital guys. They’d have to sign people to replace them, but they could always cross that bridge when they come to it. I don’t know about you guys, but even with Green’s injuries, give me Green over Brouwer and Laich. If the Leafs found a way to get rid of Clarkson, the Capitals can find a way to get rid of Brouwer and/or Laich.
What do you think? Will Mike Green be wearing a Washington Capitals sweater next season? Vote in the poll!
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