An overtime heartbreaker from Carter Verhaeghe sends the Washington Capitals home, as they drop the series to the Florida Panthers four games to two. It’s never an easy task going up against the President Trophy Winners in the first round of the playoffs but for a second, it looked as though the Capitals could sneak up and take the series from the Panthers. They won game one and followed up a 5-1 loss in game two with a decisive 6-1 win to take the lead in the series. Alas, Florida came back strong with a pair of wins and had the final say in overtime of game six. The Caps were trailing late in the third period and scored a big goal to force the game to overtime. Had they been able to win that overtime, they would’ve had all the momentum going into game seven and it could’ve been a different story but unfortunately for the Capitals and their fans, their season would end right there on home ice.
Can’t blame Washington too much, they gave Florida a good run and certainly had the upper hand in experience. However, Florida’s a younger, deeper, highly skilled team that moves the puck really well. Sergei Bobrovski is playing much better hockey then he was his last time around the playoff block and things are just clicking for this Florida team.The Capitals began the series with Vitek Vanacek but opted to switch to Ilya Samsonov in game three after dropping game two 5-1. Can’t really say that had much of a make or break impact on the series as the Caps managed to play a close game through four and five, only falling short by a goal or two in each before losing game six in overtime.
So, what does the future hold for the Capitals? Well, they’ll likely be running a very similar team back next season as they won’t be losing many players to free agency. Justin Schultz and Michael Kempny are among their rostered players who will hit free agency this offseason, as are both of their trade deadline acquisitions in Marcus Johansson and Johan Larsson. It’ll be interesting to see if they opt to bring any of them back and if not, how they will fill those holes going into next season. They’ll have about $10,000,000 in cap space to work with, potentially more depending on Carl Hagelin’s status going into next season. Hagelin has had multiple eye surgeries and will not regain 100% of his vision, making for an even more challenging recovery process. If he gets put on LTIR to start the season, that opens up a couple extra million in cap space. That $10-12 million may sound like a lot until you consider the fact that both of Washington’s goalies will be restricted free agents in need of new contracts.
Both Vanecek and Samsonov split starts this season at 39 a piece, with Vanecek having the slightly better numbers. However, Samsonov was a first round pick for the Caps and because of that, you have to think they’re going to want to hold onto him in hopes that he will be the franchise goalie he was expected to be. Vanacek is a year older and while he may not have the same pedigree as Samsonov, he is still highly valued by Washington. So much so that when Seattle picked him in the expansion draft, the Capitals immediately traded picks to get him back. I wouldn’t say you can rule out the idea of bringing them both back on bridge deals but if you’re Ilya Samsonov’s agent, you have to think the objective will be to sign long term.
Depending on how negotiations go, Brian MacLellan may be forced to decide between his two goalies, especially if he wants to devote some money to filling in the void Justin Schultz would leave on defense, assuming he hits free agency.
As of now, the Caps would come into next season with something along the lines of
Ovechkin - Kuznetsev - Oshie
Mantha - Backstrom - Wilson
McMichael - Eller - Sheary
Jonsson-Fjallby - Dowd - Hathaway
Fehervary - Carlson
Orlov - Jensen
Alexeyev/Johansen - van Riemsdyk
The window in Washington is certainly closing more and more as the years go on but as long as Ovechkin, Backstrom and Carlson are leading the way there, they’re going to want to compete. I could see Marcus Johansson signing a team friendly deal to stick around this bunch but aside from that, the Capitals are going to have holes in their lineup to fill with cheap deals in free agency. They have some young talent that could make the jump to the NHL next season, mostly in the forward positions so if they’re going to do any major shopping on July 1st, they’ll likely look for defenders.
Hendrix Lapierre cracked the NHL roster at the beginning of the season for his nine game trial that ultimately resulted in him going back to his junior team. He’s a guy that will definitely get a better look going into next season and could potentially take over the third line center role down the road. Brett Leason is another guy who could get a crack at the fourth line right wing spot if he has an impressive camp as could Joe Snively who had an impressive twelve games with the Caps for a couple weeks this past season. Alexander Alexeyev and Lucas Johansen are among the top defenders in Washington’s prospect pool that will get a look at the NHL level if they’re unable to keep Schultz or bring in any free agents.
MacLellan could also look to sell some of his veteran depth guys who are approaching the final year of their deals to not only shed some cap space but to give more opportunities to some younger players. Lars Eller is a name that comes to mind who will be entering the last year of his three and a half million dollar deal. You have to think with the direction the Capitals are heading in, it couldn’t hurt to get some future assets in exchange for a guy like Eller as any playoff contending team could look to pay a little extra for a guy like him, especially if they wait till next years trade deadline to do that kind of selling.
Regardless of which direction MacLellan decides to take the Caps this season it will certainly be interesting to see how competitive they can be with an aging core and shallow depth chart. With the right pieces, this team will have to fight to stay in the playoff picture but can’t be completely ruled out of the conversation.
Chris Feldman
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