Washington Capitals right winger Brett Connolly is due for a big pay raise. Here is why they should bring him back.
So far this offseason Stars and Sticks has done a series making the case for various Washington Capitals UFA’s and RFA’s in bringing them back or the challenges in doing so. Here is what we’ve done so far: Carl Hagelin, Andre Burakovsky, Brooks Orpik, Devante Smith-Pelly. Read on for why they should bring back Brett Connolly:
It is tough to say you want anyone to leave your favorite team. You become attached to each of them through spectacular plays that are embedded into our minds and get to know them via your team’s media platforms where we see their personalities blossom.
With that being said, hockey is a business. We, as fans, know that players cannot stick around forever and that’s just the reality of the game we choose to love. On that front, however, I believe that the Washington Capitals should hold on to Brett Connolly.
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Despite looking like the oldest player on the team, Brett Connolly is still a younger man. This is perfect for the Capitals who have an aging corps with Alex Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom and T.J. Oshie all being over 30 years of age. It is nice to have a few younger players in their roster that we know are able to play for a solid portion of time in the future. Connolly recently turned 27, so (hopefully) he still has many good years ahead of him.
Another reason to re-sign Connolly, and probably the most obvious, is the fact that he had a career-year last season putting up 20 goals and 40 points for the first time in his career. Every season with Washington, Connolly’s numbers have improved. Connolly finished the regular season with 22 goals and 24 assists for 46 points in 81 games.
These numbers are more impressive when you consider the fact that Connolly spends most of his time on Washington’s third line and averaged only 13:20 of ice-time per game.
His playoff stats were nothing to write-home about as he only totaled 2 goals and 0 assists in 7 games and was a -2. This is tough to bring into question, however, as he was not the only player who did not have the greatest postseason (looking at you Evgeny Kuznetsov). Connolly’s overall stats are exceptional for a player in his role and makes Connolly more-than-worth a raise this offseason.
Connolly currently makes $1.5m per season and is set to become a UFA (unrestricted free agent) on July 1st. Other players who made $1.5m this past season include only Vinnie Hinostroza of the Arizona Coyotes, who had 39 points in 71 games. It gets more interesting when you look at the other side of the spectrum, however.
Connolly only had one fewer point than Chicago Blackhawks’ forward, Brandon Saad, who was occasionally a third and first-line player who played only one fewer game than Connolly. Saad, however, makes $6m per season. Although $6m is too much to spend on a 40-point player,
Connolly is due for some sort of raise thanks to his performance. Washington needs to be smart with this, however, and not overpay him because he had one exceptional season (by his standards). It has been seen far too often in the past where a player has a great season right when their contract is up and they receive over-compensation. This, of course, raises expectations which the players are unable to meet.
John Carlson was an example of compensation-gone-right because he was paid big money after his breakout 68-point 2017-2018 campaign, and followed it up with a 70-point 2018-2019 regular season.
It is not unlikely for Connolly to take a step backward next season. Because of this, Washington should accommodate him for his great season as well as take his multiple 20-point seasons with the Caps into consideration. If Brett wants to stay in D.C., he should do the same and think about how much he is truly worth. I think Connolly should make somewhere between $3-4m this offseason.
Washington is not in an envious position salary-cap wise and needs to be smart with where they throw their money around. They have some tough decisions to make regarding free agents, but I feel as though Connolly is someone who they would be smart to keep in their lineup (for the right price).