Washington Capitals: T.J. Oshie’s contract extension helped win the Stanley Cup

Two summers ago, some fans complained about the Washington Capitals overpaying T.J. Oshie.

Our fellow FanSided neighbors over at Puck Prose recently wrote a piece listing each NHL team’s worst contract heading into 2019. On the Washington Capitals, they listed T.J. Oshie.

Scratching the surface of his deal, it was quite massive at the time. Eight years and $46-million with an average annual value of $5.75 million. It seems like a massive amount of money but at $5.75 million, it’s really not too bad of a cap hit.

T.J. Oshie has been an icon across the world of hockey since his heroics at the 2014 Winter Olympic games as well as his beautiful flow. He’s like a half hockey player, half college fraternity brother but with the kind, humble heart.

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The Capitals traded for Oshie two summers prior to that extension, sending Troy Brouwer and, ironically, Pheonix Copley. Oshie brought speed, hits and a blue collar mentality that meshed right well in the Capitals locker room.

Oshie was part of the reason why the Capitals had one of the best offenses in the NHL the last four seasons. Oshie scored 26 goals his first season and a career-high 33 his second season right before his big payday.

Oshie makes the fourth-most money among forwards and the sixth most overall according to CapFriendly. There are other contracts that one could argue that are questionable. The hardest part is the shrinking salary cap which put Washington in a bind, coupled with an arbitration hearing on Christian Djoos.

Djoos wasn’t the only player that needed arbitration either during Oshie’s time in Washington. Both Braden Holtby and Dmitry Orlov have each sought it when they were restricted free agents (RFAs).

Out of the two it’s the obvious choice who deserves a big-money extension. Braden Holtby will be due for a huge raise and that’s where some will argue that’s where the overpay from guys like Oshie stand. In my honest opinion, I think the Capitals overpaid for Dmitry Orlov with a $5.1 million cap hit annually for five seasons. Again, just my opinion.

There’s one last rebuttal that I know is coming: health. Yes Oshie was hurt three times since this contract extension but as we’ve seen this offseason, Oshie continues to make progress on the ice. In fact, Oshie told Tom Gulitti of NHL.com that he’s been feeling much better in an article that came out on Tuesday morning:

“I was cleared kind of (in) June, but definitely cleared in July. So we were right on pace, I think, to being close (to playing) if we would have made it to the [Stanley Cup] Final. But I’m good. Now it’s just all getting those muscles built back up as best as I can before the season and I’m ready to roll. I can’t wait for it to get here.”

We can’t wait for the season to get here either, T.J. Oshie and the Capitals are back next month but are continuing to gear up in the meantime.