Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Caps re-sign Brooks Laich

If there's one thing I've been expecting of Brooks Laich, it's that he would replace the player he was traded for 8 years ago, Peter Bondra, the greatest Capital ever to suit up for DC's hockey team. The Caps have signed Brooksie to a six-year deal at $4.5 million per and I'm happy to say that it's a relief that he's staying with the Caps. He is one of those two-way players that could eventually become a Ryan Kesler. Those of you who don't know who Ryan Kesler is, shame on you, he's one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL. He scores goals, plays great defense, is on the power play and penalty kill and one of the best overall players. More on the Caps salary cap after the jump...



Capitals current salary situation


Name
Cap Hit
Forwards (11)
Alexander Ovechkin
$9,538,462
Nicklas Backstrom
$6,700,000
Alexander Semin
$6,700,000
Brooks Laich
$4,500,000
Eric Fehr
$2,200,000
Mike Knuble
$2,000,000
Jason Chimera
$1,875,000
Marcus Johansson
$900,000
Matt Hendricks
$825,000
D.J. King
$637,500
Jay Beagle
$512,500
$36,388,462
Defensemen
Mike Green
$5,250,000
Dennis Wideman
$3,937,500
Tom Poti
$2,875,000
Jeff Schultz
$2,750,000
John Erskine
$1,500,000
John Carlson
$845,833
Tyler Sloan
$700,000
$17,858,333
Goaltenders (1)
Michal Neuvirth
$1,150,000
TOTAL
$55,396,795
Cap Room Left
$8,903,205

-  The Capitals also placed Tyler Sloan on waivers, which indicates that they're either going to let him go,
   or send him down to Hershey, or they could conceivably buy him out. It all depends on what Sloan
   wants to do. But, assuming they re-sign Alzner, which is almost a gimmie, Sloan is either going to be in
   Hershey or on another team at the beginning of the season. It only matters if the Caps buy out his
   contract which is 1/3 of the original contract ($233,333). This also clears a little space so that the Caps
   can bring up a rookie to play for their team come October. Also, when going into training camp, there
   will be several players on entry-level contracts vying for a spot on the roster and compared to last
   season, it won't be to fill a spot as it was with Marcus Johansson and Mathieu Perrault fighting to center
   a line, it'll be more like someone has to outplay a veteran to earn it.

-  On the Semyon Varlamov front, all indications point to the Caps and Varly not coming to an agreement
   any time soon. Either Varly will bolt to Russia or take the same contract that Neuvirth signed.

-  From what I've heard, Karl Alzner is being offered a similar contract to what he had with a salary of  
   $875,000 minus the bonuses that he had received which were $850,000 for a total of $1,675,000 hit on
   the salary cap. I believe it will be a short-term contract at 1 million per year and his next contract will be
   the big one he's looking for.

-  Mathieu Perrault is most likely going to be stuck at Hershey and will not count against the Cap next
   season.

-  Troy Brouwer and the Caps are still working on a deal, but Troy is eligible for arbitration and may take
   that route if he feels that the Caps aren't giving him what he wants. The Caps traded for him, so there's
   no way they're going to let him go unless another team offers more than $2 million, in which case, the
   Caps will gladly take their first and third round picks. I believe it will be in the range of $1.6 million - $2
   million, might be less if he wants to take a pay cut

The Capitals also have a long pipeline of forwards that could be coming up to training camp. I'm not listing defencemen or goaltenders because I'm pretty sure the Caps are in abundance of both right now.
-  Mattias Sjogren signed with the Caps earlier this month for a two-year entry contract deal. He will be at
   camp and had a stellar performance during the IIHF 2011 World Championships.
-  Stanislav Galiev just had a monster season in the QMJHL with 37 goals, 28 assists and 65 pts in 64
   games with a +36 and added 10 goals and 17 assists in 19 playoff games in the QMJHL playoffs and
   also won the Memorial Cup
-  Cody Eakin is another kid who could make an impact for sure. He was also a part of the Memorial Cup,
   with his team losing in the semi-finals. However, he had a ridiculous season compiling 36 goals, 57
   assists, and 83 points in 56 games, as well as 11 goals and 16 assists in 18 playoff games in the WHL
   playoffs en route to winning the WHL. Expect to see him at training camp. He may turn out to be the
   best player from the 2009 draft for the Capitals.

Here's the recent draft picks that won't be joining the Caps in camp for sure:
-  Anton Gustafsson has decided he doesn't want to play in North America and his contract has been
   suspended. When he does decide to come back, he still has to fulfill his entry-level contract with the
   Caps.
-  Evgeny Kuznetsov is taking another year in Russia before he decides to come back to North America
   and try to make the team, he looks already as though he's NHL ready, but he's signed a one-year deal
   with a KHL team and will be in Russia next season.
-  Dmitri Kugryshev did not have a productive year at Hershey and will need more seasoning before even
   thinking about coming up to the team.

That's all for now on the Caps off-season... more to come as they make moves in the future...

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