Caps sign center Dowd to one-year contract; Beagle off to Canucks

With the Washington Capitals bringing back almost their entire roster from their recent Stanley Cup championship, the first day of NHL free agency went as expected for the team — quiet. As other clubs have entered into bidding wars, Washington has used July 1 for depth signings the past three years, preferring to promote from within or upgrade through trade. The Capitals’ first fringe move came within the first hour of free agency, signing 28-year-old center Nic Dowdtoaone-year, $650,000 deal, the league minimum. With Jay Beagle leaving the organization for a four-year, $12 million contract in Vancouver, Dowd will offer some veteran competition at Beagle’s old fourthline center role. Within 10 minutes of the Dowd signing, the Capitals also announced a two-year extension for prospect center Travis Boyd, who was a pending restricted free agent. Boyd’s cont ract has an average annual value of $800,000.Though Beagle acknowledged disappointment with his own point production last season — seven goals and15 assists in 79 games, Washington could miss his penalty-killing and 58.5 faceoff percentage. “We waited [for Washington] obviously quite awhile, and then when teams started reaching out, [Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan] called my agent and said, ‘The Caps are not going to be there,’ ” Beagle said on a conference call Sunday. “So, we kind of left it at that. I’m still planning on obviously calling Mac here soon just to talk to him and thank him for everything and the opportunity to play there.” The organization also added a pair of veteran centers, Michael Sgarbossa and Jayson Megna, to one-year, two way contracts. They’re expected to play in the American Hockey League next season. next season. Theperson spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal cannot be finalized until later in the week. Gay opted out of the final year of his deal with San Antonio, and wound up re-signing for a raise of about $1.6 million over what he would have made. Gay was primarily a reserve for the first time last season, his first with the Spurs. He averaged 11.5 points on 47 percent shooting.