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Despite a slight increase of the salary cap, the Capitals’ front office has managed to check off a number of boxes on their free agency to-do list, re-signing pending free agents John Carlson, Devante Smith-Pelly, and most-recently, Michal Kempny to new deals while maintaining cap space sufficient enough to make more transactions. In this piece, NoVa Caps looks at the Capitals’ current cap situation and how it will affect the rest of their offseason.
Heading into the offseason, the Capitals had little cap space to work with and the projected increase of the salary cap would be crucial in determining not only how much they would be able to offer their own free agents, but what they could do in the event that they were unable to re-sign their top free agents, Carlson in particular. After re-signing Kempny to a four-year, $10 million deal, the Capitals have $9,715,705 left in cap space, with Restricted free agent right wing Tom Wilson and unrestricted free agent Jay Beagle (among others) still unsigned.
Below is a chart showing each player’s cap hit and total salary (note that each number/status is for the 2018-19 season, per CapFriendly):
| Player | Cap Hit | Total Salary |
| Pheonix Copley | $650,000 | $650,000 |
| Matt Niskanen | $5,750,000 | $5,750,000 |
| Michal Kempny | $2,500,000 | $2,500,000 |
| Alex Ovechkin | $9,538,462 | $10,000,000 |
| Dmitry Orlov | $5,100,000 | $6,500,000 |
| Brett Connolly | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 |
| Jakub Vrana | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 |
| Chandler Stephenson | $650,000 | $650,000 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | $6,700,000 | $7,500,000 |
| Lars Eller | $3,500,000 | $5,000,000 |
| Madison Bowey | RFA | RFA |
| Devante Smith-Pelly | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Jakub Jerabek | UFA | UFA |
| Christian Djoos | $650,000 | $650,000 |
| Alex Chiasson | UFA | UFA |
| Tom Wilson | RFA | RFA |
| Andre Burakovsky | $3,000,000 | $2,750,000 |
| Braden Holtby | $6,100,000 | $5,000,000 |
| Travis Boyd | RFA | RFA |
| John Carlson | $8,000,000 | $12,000,000 |
| T.J. Oshie | $5,750,000 | $7,500,000 |
| Nathan Walker | $650,000 | $650,000 |
| Jay Beagle | UFA | UFA |
| Evgeny Kuznetsov | $7,800,000 | $10,000,000 |
Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan has managed to re-sign multiple key players to the team’s Stanley Cup championship while still managing to keep sufficient cap space to work with, with Wilson (who, according to his agent, is set to sign a long-term deal this summer), Madison Bowey (Restricted Free Agent), and if possible, Beagle, who has already drawn interest from at least one other team with free agency just a few days away. Wilson is likely due for a sizable raise from his current salary of $2 million, and depending on how big a raise he receives, should have at least $6 million or so in cap space to work with.
By Michael Fleetwood
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I know he’s improved, but am I the only one that winces when I see Orlov and $5.1 million in the same sentence?
It’s a situation where the upside could be huge. Caps are definitely taking a gamble on Orlov.
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