Who the Washington Capitals Could Lose to Free Agency This Summer

Defense

On the defense there is three unrestricted free agents. There’s Justin Schultz, who while is the better one than the other two I’ll mention has the biggest cap hit at four million. That four million could be used elsewhere to upgrade their situation at goalie (more on that later). The other two are Michal Kempny who made $2.5 million last season and Matt Irwin at $750,000.

It is likely none of those names will be back next season. Irwin was OK but nothing really stood out. Schultz is good either on a second pair or third pair on any team but his price is too high to re-sign.

Parting ways with Kempny is a hard one but will likely happen as well. Kempny was brought in at the 2018 trade deadline and he helped the Caps to their first Stanley Cup. Though a hamstring injury that sidelined him for a long time messed up his game.

This past season Kempny was splitting time with the big club and the AHL team over in Hershey. It was the byproduct of a bad preseason. Perhaps a change in scenery could help Kempny get his NHL career back on the right track. Things are much different now.