With 28 Unrestricted and Restricted Free Agents (UFA / RFA) entering the 2015 offseason, decisions being made in Ballston now and over the next few weeks will have larger than normal impact on the Capitals for the next several years, as well as play a huge part in defining General Manager Brian MacLellan’s legacy.
Some decisions will be easier than others. particularly on the defensive side of things. It appears that Erskine, Gleason an Green are probably gone, and the Caps will strive to re-sign Nate Schmidt, and look to Madison Bowey for the next supporting piece. It is not clear how the moves will shake out for the remaining defenders (Kundratek, Landry, Moore, Oleksy, Schilling and Wey).
In goal, decisions appear to be pretty straightforward as well. Holtby will re-sign, probably a long term big deal. Grubauer will be a key re-signing and move to backup Holtby. Peters will ultimately be re-assigned to Hershey for the remaining year. of his two-year deal. It’s not clear how things will shake out for Brandon Anderson and Edward Pasquale.
On the offensive side, the route to success becomes much more convoluted. GMBM has stated that it will be a priority to sign Kuznetsov and Johansson, and it would appear that Glenncross will be gone. But things are much less certain for Beagle, Fehr and Ward. These will be high-impact decisions, and critical for GMBM to get it right. For other offensive players, the future is even more uncertain. Chris Brown, Chris Connor, Aaron Volpatti, Casey Wellman and Kris Newbury are big question marks. An obvious re-signing would include Stanislav Galiev.
2015 Free Agents:
| Forwards | Defensemen |
| Jay Beagle (UFA) | John Erskine (UFA) |
| Eric Fehr (UFA) | Tim Gleason (UFA) |
| Curtis Glencross (UFA) | Mike Green (UFA) |
| Marcus Johansson (RFA) | Nate Schmidt (RFA) |
| Evgeny Kuznetsov (RFA) | Tomas Kundratek (RFA) |
| Joel Ward (UFA) | Jon Landry (UFA) |
| Chris Brown (RFA) | Mike Moore (UFA) |
| Chris Conner (UFA) | Steve Oleksy (UFA) |
| Stanislav Galiev (RFA) | Cameron Schilling (UFA) |
| Tim Kennedy (UFA) | Patrick Wey (RFA) |
| Garrett Mitchell (RFA) | |
| Kris Newbury (UFA) | Goal |
| Aaron Volpatti (UFA) | Brandon Anderson (RFA) |
| Casey Wellman (UFA) | Philipp Grubauer (RFA) |
| Braden Holtby (RFA) | |
| Edward Pasquale (RFA) |
Thoughts on potential moves we need to make?