The Washington Capitals announced on Friday that they have extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents (RFA’s) Martin Fehervary, Henrik Borgstrom and Riley Sutter. They also announced that they have elected not to qualify Gabriel Carlsson and Kody Clark.
#Caps have extended qualifying offers to defenseman Martin Fehervary and forwards Riley Sutter and Henrik Borgstrom. #Caps elect not to issue qualifying offers to defenseman Gabriel Carlsson and forward Kody Clark.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) June 30, 2023
Fehervary and fellow defenseman Alex Alexeyev were the Capitals’ only RFAs on the roster for the 2022-23 season. The Capitals extended Alexeyev with a two-year deal back in early May, leaving Fehervary as the only remaining unsigned RFA on the Capitals roster. As we first reported back on June 18, Fehervary finally received his qualifying offer earlier this month.
Sutter, a 23-year-old right winger, was drafted by the Capitals in the third round (#93 overall) of the 2018 NHL entry draft. He signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Capitals on September 29, 2018 at $925,000 AAV. With entry-level slides for his first two seasons, Sutter became an restricted free agent at the end of the 2022-23 season. Sutter suffered significant injuries during his tenure in the Capitals system, but turned in his best professional campaign last season, centering the Bears fourth line in their run to a 12th Calder Cup.
Borgstrom, 25, was an occasional healthy scratch for the Hershey Bears during the 2022-23 season, but did have periods of admirable play. It was announced earlier this year that he will be returning to Sweden to play for HV71 for the 2023-24 season, however, the Capitals will maintain his NHL rights.
Clark, a 6’-3”, 185lb right-winger, was drafted by the Capitals in the second round (47th overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. The Capitals signed Clark to a three-year entry-level contract with an average annual value of $808000 on October 22, 2018. With the first two years of his contract being entry level slides, Clark, 23, became a restricted free agent at the end of the 2022-23 season. Clark, son of NHL-legend Wendel Clark, dealt with significant injuries during his time in the Capitals system and never demonstrated very much scoring potential.
The Capitals announced on July 20, 2022, that they had signed defenseman Gabriel Carlsson to a one-year, two-way contract that carried a $750,000 cap hit at the NHL-level and $400,000 at the AHL-level. Carlsson, 26, performed well for the Hershey Bears during the 2022-23 season and was simply their best defenseman at times. He will be replaced by Hardy Haman Aktell, 24, who is also a left-handed defenseman, and was signed by the Capitals earlier this year.
By Jon Sorensen