On Monday, July 6th, the Capitals re-signed Evgeny Kuznetsov to a two-year contract at $3 million per year.  $2.2 million in 2015-16 plus $400k signing bonus, then $3.4 million in 2016-17.

This is the “bridge deal”  his agent discussed in a recent Washington Post article.  The deal keeps Kuznetsov as an RFA when his new contract expires.  The 23-year-old is coming off his first full season with the Capitals where he had 11 goals and 37 points in 80 games. He also added five goals in 14 postseason games.  A more detailed breakdown of the Kuzy deal and how it transpired can be found here.  Washington Post’s ALex Prwitt’s excellent write-up can be found here.

Kuzy sent out thanks via Twitter:

Teammate Michael Latta Tweeted out:

Okay okay okay @Kuzya92, but you know what this means. You and @tom_wilso won’t be roomies next year on the road, is it worth the pay bump??

— Michael Latta (@Latta17) July 6, 2015

Tom Wilson quickly replied:

The Capitals now have $10.89 million in available cap space,  with Holtby, Johansson left unsigned.  Per @VogsCaps, with this deal Caps have all top six Fs and all of top four D under contract for next two seasons.

Caps Analyst Alan May also commented regarding GMBM’s work to this point with regarding to signings and the salaray cap management: