Washington Capitals: 2015 Free Agency Primer
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Free agency officially begins at noon on July 1st. The Washington Capitals do not plan to be as busy as they were last season when they started free agency off with a huge bang by signing blue liners Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen, but they should still be fairly active because they must upgrade their team and fill several roster spots.
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The Capitals have several unrestricted free agents that they could re-sign. As of right now, the Caps have nine forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders under contract. NHL rules dictate that the Caps must have no fewer than 20 players and no more than 23 before the beginning of the 2015-2016 season. That leaves three to six roster spots available for the Caps to fill. Much of what is done this off-season for the Washington Capitals will be determined by what happens with their restricted free agents, so we’ll take a look at them first.
We’ll always take a look at the roster spots that the Washington Capitals will need to fill assuming that the restricted free agents re-sign and who could be on their way out to make for a more efficient team.
Before we begin, the following NHL players are under contract by the Caps:
Washington Capitals Forwards
- Alex Ovechkin
- Nicklas Backstrom
- Andre Burakovsky
- Brooks Laich
- Troy Brouwer
- Tom Wilson
- Jason Chimera
- Michael Latta
- Jay Beagle
Washington Capitals Defensemen
- Brooks Orpik
- John Carlson
- Karl Alzner
- Matt Niskanen
- Dmitry Orlov
- Nate Schmidt
Washington Capitals Goaltenders
Next: Restricted Free Agents