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
Musical chairs with not enough chairs. Music stopped
All five are really good hockey players
I’m thinking that Clark’s injury is career ending, and they really don’t need Carlsson if they make Johansen and Haman Aktell the 4-5LD with Iorio the 4RD. Carlsson is just to slow to be effective at the NHL level the way the game is played today.
They will have to sign quite a few AHL defensemen this offseason, as they only have 8 D signed to NHL contracts for next year (9 when Fehervary gets signed), per Cap Friendly.
Feel bad for Clark. The injuries just never stopped for him.
The Borgstrom qualification is odd.
They probably want to retain his rights in case he decides to come back. He has shown flashes of being a really good player. And then of being a not-so-really-good player.
Agree, Sutter was a busy and then bam! This season. I definitely want to see more
Do Caps have “enough” on this year’s Blueline? Or do they try to re-sign Orlov?
They can’t afford him unless they unload salary. And even if they can free up the bucks, the priority needs to be on finding somebody other than 8 who can put the puck in the net on a regular basis.
In my view, the D is “fine”. Not elite, young on the left side, but definitely not the biggest hole in the lineup, particularly since defense in the NHL is really the responsibility of all 6 guys on the ice. The Caps’ biggest defensive problem is getting the 3 guys up front to actually play their part in the 5-man defensive unit, and that won’t/can’t be fixed by spending $6M+/yr on Orlov.
Got it!