Washington Capitals: Roster moves with Evgeny Kuznetsov’s return
The Washington Capitals 2019-20 roster is now set with the return of Evgeny Kuznetsov from his three game suspension.
Evgeny Kuznetsov‘s absence bought the Washington Capitals extra time to trim their roster to get under the salary cap ceiling.
They entered training camp over the cap but with Kuznetsov getting suspended three games by the NHL, his cap hit of $7.8-million didn’t count against the Capitals when they submitted rosters for opening night.
It allowed the Capitals to go with Chandler Stephenson and Travis Boyd in the lineup, two fourth liners that had been in the hot seat since the start of free agency. It moved Lars Eller to the second line.
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On the defense, Michal Kempny wasn’t 100% ready for opening night as he was still recovering from his hamstring injury. Jonas Siegenthaler got top pairing minutes next to John Carlson. We also got to see the NHL debut of Martin Fehervary.
Sunday was an off day but not for General Manager Brian MacLellan. Kuznetsov’s return put the Capitals at over $1.6-million over the salary cap threshold. The Capitals did three things to get back under.
They re-assigned Fehervary to the Hershey Bears with no need for him to clear waivers. Additionally Sigenthaler was sent to the Bears and he was also waivers exempt. Boyd was placed on waivers. At noon today he’ll either be claimed by one of the other NHL teams or clear waivers and head down to Hershey.
Although Siegenthaler was sent to Hershey, he won’t physically head there. The team did that since he was waivers exempt to get under the cap. His cap hit is $714,166 and after Boyd’s $800,000 hit comes off the books, the team will recall Siegenthaler right away.
Kuznetov’s return brings back normalcy to the lines. His absence saw Eller on the second line and Chandler Stephenson centering the third line. Now with Kuznetsov back in, expect him to center the top line or second line with Nicklas Backstrom centering the other top six line Kuznetsov isn’t on. Eller will move back up to the third line.
Although it looks like Stephenson might be an odd man out in terms of a scratch, he had a solid preseason with one goal and three assists, earning a chance to stay in the Capitals lineup.
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Stephenson was on thin ice with a $1.05-million cap hit over the summer but he showed why he deserves to be in the lineup. The Capitals will host the Dallas Stars tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Capital One Arena.