Washington Capitals: Top 3 burning questions

The Washington Capitals roster has been constructed and the biggest offseason questions have been answered on who will return, well, sort of.

But there’s still some questions that are lingering within the streets around Washington. Capitals fans are eager for hockey’s return but some had to go through the emotional aspect of moving on from players they were attached to. Players like Brett Connolly, Brooks Orpik, Matt Niskanen, Devante Smith-Pelly, and Andre Burakovsky.

New faces include Richard Panik, Garnet Hathaway, Brendan Leipsic and Radko Gudas. General manager Brian MacLellan also extended the contracts of Carl Hagelin and Jakub Vrana, Christian Djoos and Chandler Stephenson.

That’s just the nature of the business and there’s still likely a slight tweak or two to be made. We’ll take a look at the three burning questions the Capitals have as they enter the dog days of the offseason.

How can the Capitals get out of salary cap trouble?

Ah the most complicated piece to the puzzle. Shortly after free agency began, RFAs Christian Djoos and Chandler Stephenson each filed for arbitration wanting a higher contract than the qualifying offer Washington extended them.

Djoos’ case made it to court where a neutral arbitrator awarded him a $1.25 million extension while Stephenson’s arbitration never made it to the courtroom. The Capitals extended Stephenson to a $1.105 million contract, putting Washington over the $81.5 million salary cap by $1.364 million.

Between now and opening night, Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan has to figure out how to trim the salary back down and it’ll be his toughest task to date. J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington has noted that Stephenson’s cap hit of $1.05 is $25,000 below $1.075 million limit. Regan explains that to send a player to the AHL, you subtract $1.075 million from the said player’s cap hit and the remaining still counts against you. The fact that Stephenson’s under that means he needs a strong training camp but even that might not be enough.

Another option is to trade someone or send someone else down to Hershey to get under the cap. This decision might not come until the conclusion of camp, when the coaches can get a clearer picture of who deserves the spot on the opening night roster.

Are the Capitals true Stanley Cup contenders?

The Metropolitan Division has gotten tougher. Teams like the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils are loaded with some offseason additions that could challenge not only the Capitals but the Pittsburgh Penguins as well. Like Washington, Pittsburgh lost some key guys as well.

This question will be answered as time moves on but the biggest key will be consistency from the top-six and whether or not the bottom-six forwards and new defensive pairings for the bottom four will work out. Washington wants to step away from offense and focus more on analytics and a defensive game, a style that played to the Hurricanes favor in the first round last season.

As far as the bottom-six, the departure of Burakovsky and Connolly will leave huge voids. Connolly comes off his career-high 22-goal season while the team traded Burakovsky at his request for a change in scenery. How Carl Hagelin and Richard Panik fare next to Lars Eller will play a big factor in whether the Capitals have the depth they need to make a deep run.

Another factor in whether the Capitals will be true Cup contenders that’s even bigger than the new lineup is health. As we saw last season when Michal Kempny suffered a torn left hamstring injury that ended his season, the defense wasn’t the same and it proved costly. That, combined with T.J. Oshie’s collarbone injury in the playoffs and all of a sudden Washington lost two of their biggest offensive and defensive weapons.

No team is superhuman and injuries happen to everyone but the less players on IR for the Capitals in 2019-20, the better. Health, consistency from top to bottom, and depth scoring will be key in this new window that’s open.

How will Braden Holtby perform in 2019-20?

Look no further than the Holtbeast. Braden Holtby not only enters the final year of his five-year, $30.5 million contract but will have a steep price tag when he’s an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2020. Two big contracts on two other high profile goalies will make this storyline even more interesting.

Former Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is just one year older than Holtby and was rewarded a seven-year, $70-million extension from the Florida Panthers making $10 million each season. Then there’s Andrei Vasilevskiy, who’s four years younger and hasn’t even reached his prime. The Tampa Bay Lightning netminder was just extended for an eight-year, $76 million raise with an AAV of $9.5 million each season on Monday.

While all three of these goalies are unstoppable in their own way, Holtby has one thing the other three don’t have, a Stanley Cup. If Holtby can bounce back and win at least 40-games, expect a steep price tag and a big decision that will have to be made by MacLellan.

Those are the top three burning questions as the offseason enters the final stretch. What are your top three burning questions, Caps fans?