4 UFA Defensemen Washington Capitals Should Target
The Washington Capitals won’t likely add anyone on defense one would think but after last offseason you never know what kind of tricks Brian MacLellan has up his sleeve. We can’t really get a clear picture of what the defense will look like until after the expansion draft which is next Wednesday.
Our new contributor Greg Bowman predicted in his protected list that the team will lose Justin Schultz to the Seattle Kraken. If he’s right, the Caps may need to add someone on defense after all or some fellow prospects like Martin Fehervary or Alex Alexeyev could step in.
As of right now, the Caps have five lefties on defense and four that are right handed. Those left handed folks are Dmitry Orlov, Brenden Dillon, and Michal Kempny in addition to Alexeyev and Fehervary. On the right side there’s John Carlson, Nick Jensen and Trevor van Riemsdyk.
The Caps had Jonas Siegenthaler last season until they shipped him to the New Jersey Devils after he had a lack of playing time under Peter Laviolette’s system. They also had Zdeno Chara who is a free agent but could retire.
The following four we’ll mention are different in age, shot and cap hit and it’ll be tough to spend on these guys with a tight budget.
#4 Ryan Murray
This may be unlikely for two reasons. The first one being the the Caps are already good stocked on the left side of the blue line with varsity squad level guys and in the pipeline looking to make the leap to the NHL as soon as next season. Still it wouldn’t hurt to pluck a defenseman from the New Jersey Devils after the Caps basically gave away Jonas Siegenthaler. Ryan Murray would be a good option.
Another challenge is that he carried a cap hit of $4.6 million. That may price his way out of the Caps offseason plans after they paid big money to extend Brenden Dillon. In 48 games with the Devils last season, Murray had 14 assists, was a +3, had eight penalty minutes while averaging 18:37 minutes of ice time.
His advanced stats weren’t spectacular but they were OK. Murray’s Corsi For percentage was at 47.76 percent while his Expected Goals For finished at 46.51 percent via Natural Stat Trick.
The 2021 season was Murray’s lone season in New Jersey after spending most of his career as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets. He was their first round pick, second overall in the 2012 NHL Draft. He was traded to the New Jersey Devils last offseason.
The next three defensemen we’ll look at are a little cheaper.
#3 Cody Ceci
Cody Ceci is a right handed defenseman from the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has a much cheaper cap hit of $1.25 million. That may be a reasonable price for the Caps as they continue the trend of adding former Penguins to the roster. If they lose Justin Schultz in the expansion draft, maybe it’ll be addition by subtraction with this one.
Ceci is 27 years old which helps the Caps in their case to get younger. The 2021 season was Ceci’s only season with the Penguins as he scored four goals and added 13 assists for 17 points in 53 games. He finished with a whopping +/- of +18 while averaging 18:31 minutes of ice time.
Ceci spent most of his career with the Ottawa Senators as he was drafted in the first round at 15th overall in 2012. He was traded in 2019 to the Toronto Maple Leafs and spent one season there before signing on with the Penguins as a free agent.
Like Murray, his advanced stats aren’t great but they are OK. Ceci finished with a Corsi For percentage of 48.31 percent, an Expected Goals For percentage of 48.67 percent and a Scoring Chances For percentage of 48.34 percent.
With a good price, the Caps could potentially add him to the defense.
#2 Tucker Poolman
If the Caps want to go real cheap they can look at players with cap hits of under a million. One such player is Tucker Poolman of the Winnipeg Jets who is a right handed defenseman. His cap hit last season $775,000. That is $20,000 less than the Caps paid for Zdeno Chara.
His numbers won’t make you too excited. The fifth rounder that was selected at 127th overall by the Jets has spent three seasons with them. He had one assist in 39 games last season and finished with a plus/minus of -2 to go along with two penalty minutes while averaging 18:18 minutes of ice time. He has five goals and 14 assists for 19 points in 120 games with Winnipeg for three seasons.
His advanced stats are OK like the others. Last season Poolman had a Corsi For percentage of 47.33 percent. That is pretty good but his Expected Goals for was a dismal 44.12 percent. So he is more of a defensive guy than an offensive guy which is what the Caps need. The Caps already have plenty of offensive punch in their lineup as it is.
That is three players we’ve mentioned. All different cap hits. That brings us to one more unrestricted free agent.
#1 Dmitry Kulikov
We’ve had two right handed defensemen and one left handed defensman. It is only right we close this out with another lefty. That player will be Dmitry Kulikov of the Edmonton Oilers who’s 30, thankfully the right side of his 30s. He only carried a cap hit of $1.15 million.
Kulikov spent the 2021 season with two teams, the other one being the New Jersey Devils. He had two assists in time with both teams with 38 games for New Jersey and 10 with Edmonton. He finished with a plus/minus of -3 with 28 penalty minutes while averaging 19:10 minutes of ice time overall.
His advanced stats were OK. Between both the Devils and the Oilers his Corsi For percentage finished at 47.7 percent.
Now comes the hard part which is sending in your protected list by Saturday. Once that’s done the Seattle Kraken can interview players that are left exposed. After the expansion draft we’ll get a much clearer picture of what the Caps will need this offseason whether it’s forwards or defense or another goalie.
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The Caps have to be smart with their protected list and be prepared for whomever the Kraken will take. If Greg is right, it could likely be a defenseman which will mean the Caps would have to go shopping for a blueliner.