The NHL regular season is paused but it’s not too early to look at what the Washington Capitals will need to do regarding free agency.
The Washington Capitals have four unrestricted free agents and two restricted free agents due for new contracts at the end of the season. With the team always battling up against the salary cap there is doubt the Capitals will be able to re-sign them all.
If they’re lucky they can at least get one or two extensions, maybe three if there was something in a UFA that they liked.
Look for a forward, a defenseman and a goalie to be on Washington’s shopping list this offseason. On the forward front Travis Boyd is a RFA while Ilya Kovalchuk is a UFA. I hate to say it but I don’t see Kovalchuk being back so that experiment with him is short lived.
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On the defense Brenden Dillon and Radko Gudas are UFAs while Jonas Siegenthaler is an RFA. I see the Caps trying to re-sign Siegenthaler, maybe they try to do something with Dillon if they see him fitting in the defense in the future. Gudas recently said he doesn’t think he’ll be back in Washington.
The goaltending is obvious with Braden Holtby as a UFA so it’ll be another position the team will look to add. One goalie I could see the team adding is Robin Lehner from the Vegas Golden Knights, who carries a 19-10-5 record with a 2.89 goals-against average and .920 save percentage.
On the forward front the Caps have to make sure they get it right. They knocked it out of the park with Garnet Hathaway. They got it all wrong when they signed Brendan Leipsic. A player like Taylor Hall would be a bit of a reach but maybe a guy like Mike Hoffman could be more feasible, especially if they don’t bring back Kovalchuk.
As far as the defense goes one popular player that is on the market is Alex Pietrangelo of the St. Louis Blues. There’s also Torey Krug of the Boston Bruins and Tyson Barrie of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Overall, it will be very interesting when free agency begins what direction the Caps will go to address all three sides of the game. Here’s hoping we don’t have to worry about free agency until October and that the season continues. After all, it would be great to see Holtby play a few more games in a Caps sweater if this is truly the end for him.