Washington Capitals: Breaking Down the Free Agency Projections

RALEIGH, NC – APRIL 22: Washington Capitals left wing Andre Burakovsky (65) congratulates Washington Capitals right wing Brett Connolly (10) after scoring in the first period during a game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals on April 22, 2019 at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC. (Photo by Greg Thompson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Washington Capitals announced Tuesday which RFAs they tendered their qualifying offers to. Here’s who we think will stay and go.

Jakub Vrana, Vitek Vanecek, Colby Williams, Andre Burakovsky, Christian Djoos, and Chandler Stephenson. These are the restricted free agents the Washington Capitals extended qualifying offers to earlier this week.

You know exactly who they need and the offseason predictions have gone as expected thus far. Carl Hagelin is back for four more seasons. Brooks Orpik has retired after a successful NHL career. We also know who didn’t get qualifying offers and while they aren’t completely ruled out, the salary cap shrinking makes life more complicated for general manager Brian MacLellan- the man in charge for these decisions.

ARLINGTON, VA – APRIL 3: Washington Capitals GM Brian MacLellan ,left, talks to Alex Ovechkin,, right, during a team photo shoot at their practice facility in Arlington, VA on April 3, 2019 . (Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

To recap from draft weekend, the league and the NHL Players Association announced that the salary cap increased to $81.5 million, an improvement from the $79.5 million a year ago. That’s great news for a lot of teams looking to spend on free agency.

Here in Washington though their cap space is set at $9,235,706 million per CapFriendly, which isn’t a lot of wiggle room. The Capitals did not extend qualifying offers to their unrestricted free agents Brett Connolly, Dmitrij Jaskin, or Devante Smith-Pelly, which means they’re allowed to talk to other teams.

UNIONDALE, NY – MARCH 01: Brett Connolly #10 of the Washington Capitals skates against the New York Islanders at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum on March 1, 2019 in Uniondale, New York. New York Islanders defeated the New York Islanders 3-1 (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)

Connolly is looking for a raise while Smith-Pelly just simply wants a chance to succeed in the NHL. Jaskin is likely out the door after coach Todd Reirden opted to go with Chandler Stephenson in the lineup down the stretch and in the postseason.