Is the Day of Reckoning at Hand?
The Washington Capitals are trying to win the Stanley Cup. The team's competitiveness is aligned with the careers of Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.
Neither Ovechkin nor Backstrom are going anywhere. However, a lot of other players could be traded.
The Washington Capitals have 25 players under contract for the next two seasons. There are 11 players who are unrestricted free agents after this season. The salary cap is $82.5 million. If the cap remains unchanged, the number of players available for next season is 61.1 percent of the current level. This leaves 32.07 million for 12 roster spots. Nicklas Backstrom's contract is uncertain.
The restricted free agents with the best chance of making the 2023-2024 roster are highlighted in green. Dylan Strome, Alexander Alexeyev and Martin Fehervary are the players who could be due for a raise next season.
The restricted free agents' chances of making the roster are getting shorter.
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Gabriel Carlsson, Ryan Chesley and others are non-roster players under contract for the 2023-24 season. The players are mostly from the "Rock the Red" era and the team might start as a rebuild before becoming a more competitive team in a few years. This coming season the Caps are last best bet to make a deep playoff run. They are also busy with the high volume of free agents who will be playing on the last year of their current contracts. It will not be a quiet 12 months to come for Washington. It might be the most active in the NHL.
