Washington Capitals: Top 3 free agents to consider in 2020
There are several free agents the Washington Capitals should consider.
The Washington Capitals enter the offseason with a ton of questions on whom they should add to their team. There’s also a coaching vacancy that needs to be filled.
The Caps have six free agents. Four of them are unrestricted free agents: Braden Holtby, Ilya Kovalchuk, Radko Gudas and Brenden Dillon. Two are restricted free agents in Travis Boyd and Jonas Siegenthaler. It is likely the Caps will bring back their RFAs and re-sign one of the UFAs.
Gudas carries a cap hit of $2,345,000 while Dillon carries a cap hit of $1,635,000. Braden Holtby, who is likely going to get a raise from another team, carried a cap hit of $6,100,000. Kovalchuk’s cap hit was $350,000.
For the RFAs Boyd has a cap hit of $800,000 while Siegenthaler has a cap hit of $714,166. Like I said, Boyd and Siegenthaler will likely be back. Boyd is a promising forward with speed. Siegenthaler is a young defenseman who’s gotten valuable playing time the last two years.
There are several big names in free agency that the Caps should look at adding. We’ll take a look at the top 3 and highlight them here. Who is number three?
#3 Vladislav Namestnikov
Vladislav Namestnikov had a solid season recording 17 goals and 14 assists for 31 points and a -5 rating in 65 regular season games with the New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators and currently the Colorado Avalanche. He is still in the playoffs with Colorado against the Dallas Stars as that second round series will enter a Game 7 tomorrow.
Namestnikov laid out 93 hits, blocked 39 shots, had 25 takeaways and 28 giveaways. He averaged 15:08 ice time per game including 1:55 shorthanded and 1:42 on the power play. His advanced stats look pretty good too. At even strength, Namestnikov recorded a 44.73 percent Corsi For percentage, a 46.91 percent expected goals for percentage, a 46.54 percent scoring chances for percentage, and a 44.3 percent shot attempts percentage.
Namestnikov could be added to the Caps as a middle six forward and could play on the top six to take pressure off of Jakub Vrana and T.J. Oshie. General Manager Brian MacLellan would likely sign him to a short term contract since he played on three different teams last season or he could get a longer term similar to the deals of Richard Panik and Garnet Hathaway. His cap hit will likely cost around $3.5 million.
There’s two more players we’ll take a look at. Who’s number two?
#2 Chris Tanev
The Caps will likely shop for a defenseman in free agency. Someone who’s high on their list should be Chris Tanev of the Vancouver Canucks. There’s no telling what the future holds with two UFAs and one RFA on the blue line. Brenden Dillon will be due a raise and so will Radko Gudas. Both players have leverage for where they’ll end up going.
Dillon wants to be back with the team while Gudas has doubts that the team will re-sign him with other needs going on. Jonas Siegenthaler will likely get a raise and stay here in Washington since he’s an RFA.
Tenev is a defensive defenseman which the Caps need more of on their blue line. He sacrifices his body often and while it may take a toll on him, it doesn’t stop him from delivering shutdown plays.
Tanev’s contract should be in the neighborhood of three to five years with a cap hit around $4 million. He currently carries a $4,450,000 cap hit with the Canucks.
Tanev scored two goals and added 18 assists for 20 points and has a Corsi For percentage of 46.47 percent. There’s one more player that we’ll look at and of course this last player is a goalie.
#1 Cam Talbot
We all know that Braden Holtby will likely be gone so the Caps will likely be looking for a veteran netminder to mentor and backup Ilya Samsonov, who’s expected to be ready for training camp after an injury over the summer caused him to miss the bubble. One goalie the Caps could look at is Cam Talbot of the Calgary Flames.
Talbot had a good first season in Calgary with a 12-10-1 record with a .919 save percentage, a 2.63 goals-against average, and two shutouts in the regular season. His numbers were impressive that he earned the starting job for the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. In the postseason Talbot went 5-4-0 with a .924 save percentage, a 2.42 goals against average and a pair of shutouts.
The 33 year old previously played for the Edmonton Oilers. He started a whooping 73 games in 2016-17 and 67 the next season. In that 2016-17 season, he went 42-22-8 with a 2.39 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. The next year he went 31-31-3 with a 3.02 goals against average and a .908 save percentage. He previously played for the New York Rangers, sharing the net with Henrik Lundqvist.
Talbot will likely make at least $2 million on his next deal making it a short term one unless the Caps go within their organization and promote Vitek Vanecek or Pheonix Copley.
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Those are our top 3 free agents to add. Who do you think the Caps should add to their team? Let us know in the comments!