Should the Capitals re-sign Conor Sheary?

Scrolling through Cap Friendly and looking at the Washington Capitals unrestricted and restricted free agents just to get a general idea of who’s staying and going this summer. These are the names.

On defense Matt Irwin is an unrestricted free agent and Martin Fehervary is a restricted free agent. Obviously out of the two you re sign Martin Fehervary.

Then we go to the forwards and you got two UFAs. Those are Craig Smith. Ehhh too old. Then there’s Conor Sheary, still a young player in his early 30s that can put up points. He just needs consistency.

Now if you have money and have a chance to re-sign Conor Sheary you absolutely do. It’s a slam dunk. The problem is the Caps only have just above seven million in projected cap space and we still don’t know if there’s any potential trades or buyouts brewing.

It’s what makes whether the Caps should re sign Conor Sheary or not a complicated question. They possibly can’t afford him and there has to be some younger and cheaper option available.

Let’s dive into the numbers. Last season Sheary had 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points. That’s six less points than the previous season along with four less goals.

Now on the surface those are OK numbers. But let’s dissect it even further.

Sheary got off to a hot start this season scoring three goals in the first four games of the season. Other than that he’s been on a dry spell.

He went scoreless in the month February. On March 21 against the Columbus Blue Jackets he finally dented the twine. It was his first goal since Jan 24 at the Colorado Avalanche.

Sheary’s recent salary was a cap hit of $1.5 million per season when he signed an extension with the Capitals in April of 2021. His next cap hit would likely command north of that which makes bringing him back all the more complicated.