Photo: @Capitals
The Washington Capitals qualified six of their restricted free agents before Tuesday’s 5 PM ET deadline to do so, including forward Andre Burakovsky whom many thought may not get qualified because it cost the Capitals at least $3.25 million, a hefty price for a player who has struggled to produce consistently throughout his NHL career.
#Caps extend qualifying offers to:
(F) Jakub Vrana, (G) Vitek Vanecek, (D) Colby Williams, (F) Andre Burakovsky, (D) Christian Djoos and (F) Chandler Stephenson— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) June 25, 2019
While it was reported today that forward Chandler Stephenson may not get a qualifying offer from the Capitals, he did. The Capitals did not qualify forward Dmitrij Jaskin, who can now become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
In addition to Stephenson and Burakovsky, the Capitals submitted qualifying offers to forward Jakub Vrana, defenseman Christian Djoos, goaltender Vitek Vanecek, and defenseman Colby Williams.
According to CapFriendly.com, the team currently has $9,235,706 left in cap space with 17 players on the NHL roster under contract. In addition to the restricted free agents, forwards Brett Connolly and Devante Smith-Pelly can each become unrestricted free agents on July 1.
By Harrison Brown
Burakovsky-for-Donskoi trade? Burakovsky-for-JasonZucker trade?
Is there any way to take a round-turn on Andre Burakovsky and increase productivity? He reminds me of Dmitri Khristich, Caps-of-yore, who had one flashy season and then lots of not-much. I remember lamenting, “Khrisitch doesn’t score goals, nor make assists, he doesn’t kill penalties, block shots, or hit anybody. What are we getting for his expensive contract?” And that was some decades ago.
Same now with Andre. Andre does not make Coach Baldy look good.
By-the-way Khristich played pretty well in last night’s Capitals Alumni Game at Rosslyn, carried on Monumental Sports and narrated by Joe B. Yvan Labre was impressive as a 70-something, and Pee Wee Maruk looked fast. Peter Bondra’s sons stole the show and scored a bunch of goals.
I don’t understand the Burakovsky qualifying offer, there are so many players out there who would hold the same cap hit who actually produce. Burakovsky is a streaky player at best. Isn’t a five year trial long enough. He has never eclipsed the 40 point mark, the closest he came was 38 points in 2015-16. His last two seasons he had 12 goals, 13 assists, for 25 points both years. Why not stay with Brett Connolly who had 22 goals and 24 assists (46 points) while on the third line most of the year?
And then there’s Dmitrij Jaskin. From nbcsportsnet in DC (McNally 26 Jun 19): “Meanwhile, forward Dmitry Jaskin was not tendered a qualifying offer. He is a free agent now. Jaskin never gained the trust of the coaching staff last season. He appeared in just 37 games despite analytics that showed he had a positive impact on the fourth line. Jaskin picked up on waivers from the St. Louis Blues in October, had two goals and four assists. He did not play in the Stanley Cup playoffs.”
The Caps’ coaching staff has gotten off Scott-free after the Round One playoff debacle. Does GMBM really love the post-Trotz coaching staff? Count me as a major critic. You just watch — Jaskin will emerge elsewhere in the NHL and do very well, maybe even becoming a Top Six forward, certainly a Third-liner. He achieved a spot in Coach R’s doghouse.
Well, Coach R is in Day One Caps Fan’s doghouse. It’s time for a second Stanley Cup, and Coach R. has shown me a DUBIOUS first season at the helm.
I:m glad about Burakovsky.If Caps dumped him, he would come back sometime to bite them in the ass.
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