Jiri Tlusty
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Jiri Tlusty has not been signed despite arguably having the most upside of all the remaining centers in free agency. He’s the kind of guy that I’d love to see the Washington Capitals take a chance on. He’s one of the youngest of all the options that the Washington Capitals have in free agency. The only issue: he’s not really a center if you look at face-offs. With that said, the Washington Capitals could just put Marcus Johansson at center. Again, face-offs don’t matter nearly as much as you probably think they do. On paper, his stats are alright. In 416 career NHL games, he has 173 points.
What I really love about Tlusty is that he makes his teammates a lot better. That’s the kind of bargain bin guy that the Washington Capitals should be looking at. They likely won’t even need an extra center for that long anyway.
CREDIT: Own The Puck
I would love to see a third line of Tlusty, Johansson and Tom Wilson. That would give the Washington Capitals arguably the best three forward lines that I’ve ever seen them have. The Capitals would likely have to do a bit of cap maneuvering to get him (which shouldn’t include MoJo) but it could wind up having a huge payoff. Hopefully his price drops enough that they don’t need to move guys, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Next: Matt Cullen