Washington Capitals: 2015 Free Agency Primer

Washington Capitals Restricted Free Agents

Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

The Capitals had 10 players up for restricted free agency. So far, the Washington Capitals have re-signed Schmidt and re-signed Grubauer. They declined to extend qualifying offers to goaltender Edward Pasquale, goaltender Brandon Anderson and defenseman Patrick Wey. They extended qualifying offers to goaltender Braden Holtby, forward Marcus Johansson, forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, forward Chris Brown and forward Stanislav Galiev. Let’s take a look at each of the restricted free agents, their likely role and a conservative estimate of the contract that they’ll get. 

1. Holtby is by far the most important restricted free agent that the Washington Capitals have. Everything that they do for the rest of this off-season will most likely be based off of what they do with Holtby. The Capitals offered him a qualifying offer of at least $2,000,000 because that was the minimum one required. They have talked to him about a long-term extension. My guess is if the extension gets done, it will be a four to six year deal with an average annual value (or cap hit) from $5,000,000 to $6,000,000.
2. Johansson is probably the must unpredictable restricted free agent as far as what he will receive. It depends on how much the Washington Capitals value him. Do they think he’s a long-term solution as a top six or at worst top nine forward? My guess is he’ll get at least $4,000,000 a year regardless of the term. He’s proven he’s a very capable top six forward and now the Washington Capitals have to pay him like one. If the Caps can’t get him to agree to a short-term deal and he wants a long-term deal, he could be on his way out.
3. Kuznetsov is a restricted free agent after his up and down rookie season that saw him finish very strong. I think a two to three year deal with an average annual value (or cap hit) of $2,000,000 would work out perfectly for both sides.
4. Stanislav Galiev is someone who will likely get around $700,000 as an average annual value. He finally fits in to the future plans for the Capitals (at least for now) and I expect him to get a good shot at a fourth line role to open next season.
5. Chris Brown will most likely be competing for the extra forward role. He will likely get around $850,000 per season.

Let’s call that $14,000,000 committed to those guys and call it even. Going by General Fanager, that leaves $4,321,541 of cap space. Obviously, the Washington Capitals would like to create more cap space. Speaking of which…

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