Top 5 bold predictions for the Capitals heading into free agency

The Washington Capitals enter an interesting free agency period. There will be some tough decisions to make and for the first time in years, we might see a big upgrade at forward. We’ll also probably see a new veteran net minder and part ways with either Vitek Vanecek or Ilya Samsonov.

Free Agency across the NHL begins on Wednesday July 13 at 12 noon eastern. It will be a wild day for all the teams but especially the Capitals.

Can the team find a center to replace Nicklas Backstrom? What about Tom Wilson who they’ll be without till around Thanksgiving at the earliest? There’s got to be a tough player available to fill that void.

#5 More money, bigger splash

Unlike previous years, the Capitals will be entering this free agency period with more money to spend. Per CapFriendly, the Caps have $8,978,334 in cap space. That doesn’t include Nicklas Backstrom or Tom Wilson going on long term injured reserve, as that hasn’t kicked in yet. But let’s do some match.

Adding Backstrom and Wilson’s cap hits for when they would go on LTIR, the Caps will have $23,345,000 in cap space. That’s A LOT of money to get a veteran net minder and two top six forwards.

#4 The Caps will trade for J.T. Miller

I know this isn’t related to free agency but one bold prediction is that leading up to free agency the Caps will trade for J.T. Miller. He spent last season with the Vancouver Canucks and will have a cap hit of $5.25 million. He can play at both left wing and center.

Miller had a breakout season with the Canucks with 32 goals and 67 assists for 99 points. He has consistency in his game and can easily fill a top six center position that will be vacant with Nicklas Backstrom’s absence.

His advanced stats were pretty good. Miller had a 51.03 percent Expected Goals For percentage in the regular season at five on five, a 52.36 percent Corsi For percentage and a 48.04 High Danger Chances For percentage per Natural Stat Trick.

Miller is also one hell of a passer averaging .41 assists per game and .63 points per game in each of the past five seasons. My friend Harrison Brown of NoVa Caps writes that he’s by far the best center available at the market and has a team friendly cap hit that the Caps can work with. Especially with all the cap space that they’re going to get.

If the Caps were to pull off any trades before free agency, this is the one to pull the trigger on.

#3 The Caps will land Nino Niederreiter

After the Caps trade for J.T. Miller we’ll focus back on to free agency. Here’s a wild one. To replace Tom Wilson at top line right wing, the Caps should try to acquire Nino Niederreiter from the Carolina Hurricanes.

Niederreiter scored 24 goals and added 20 assists for 44 points. He’s six foot two and 215 pounds. He also will turn 30 at the start of the season. His previous cap hit was $5.25 million. The Caps could easily afford that with the money to spend and have some left over to add a goaltender or a defenseman if needed.

Niederreiter was a fifth overall pick in the first round by the New York Islanders in the 2010 NHL Draft. His career got off to a slow start with the Islanders and then got traded to the Minnesota Wild.

With the Wild, Niederreiter turned his game around, becoming both a power forward and reliable goal scorer. He’d be perfect to fill that Tom Wilson void as Wilson is both a power forward and now thanks to changing his game, a reliable goal scorer.

He would be the best name available, especially over Phil Kesell, who while still good is also getting older. Caps can’t afford any more veterans other than maybe a net minder.

#2 Caps will land Darcy Kuemper

As far as goaltenders that are available on the free agent market, the Caps should go for Darcy Kuemper who just won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche.

Kuemper had a really good regular season where he went 37-12-4 with a 2.54 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. In his career he has a 2.48 goals against average and a .918 save percentage while posting a 143-95-36 record.

Kuemper had a previous cap hit of $4.5 million. The Caps can easily afford that even if he commands a couple of numbers north of that.

It will be a challenge. Obviously after just winning a Cup with them, the Avalanche certainly want him back. He will also be one of the most attractive free agent goalie targets after just winning that Cup. Other teams will gun for him as well and some might have more financial flexibility with their cap space than the Caps will.

But if the Caps are able to land him, they should certainly go for it. He would be a great mentor to Ilya Samsonov or Vitek Vanecek, depending on which young goalie they ultimately go with to back up.

All eyes will be on what the Caps do at goalie which brings me to my next and final bold prediction…