Signings, trades shift balance of power
After building up to a playoff run that ended in the second round yet again, the Washington Capitals are going through a salary-cap nightmare usually reserved for Stanley Cup champions.
The same struggles that led to the deconstruction of the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings over the years is affecting the Capitals, though those teams have a pile of Stanley Cup rings to ease the pain.
Now Washington is expected to take a step back next season as the balance of power shifts in the Eastern Conference and across the league.
“We maxed it out, both player-wise and salary-wise,” Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said Monday. “It’s no different than the teams that have won in the past. We have the same kind of hangover, but we haven’t won a championship and we’re dealing with it now.”
The two-time Presidents’ Trophy-winning Capitals and the two-time Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins will be younger and the New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes almost certainly better — and that’s just the Metropolitan Division.
Elsewhere in the East, the Montreal Canadiens are reloading with the addition of longtime Washington defenseman Karl Alzner and the acquisition of forward Jonathan Drouin, as the Toronto Maple Leafs take another step toward being a championship contender by adding veteran winger Patrick Marleau to their young core.
“The five-year plan changes every day,” Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello said.
Out West, the Dallas Stars could be one of the favorites to reach the final after bringing in goaltender Ben Bishop, defenseman Marc Methot, center Martin Hanzal and winger Alexander Radulov and given the Chicago Blackhawks’ movement toward future cost certainty. Don’t expect the Stars to be out of the playoffs any time soon.
“We like what we have on paper, but in the end the goal for us is to be a contender every year, to get in the playoffs every year,” Dallas GM Jim Nill said. “This game can humble you pretty quick, and it’s a tough league.”
It’s a league where turnover is the norm. There were six new playoff teams last season who missed in 2015-16 and that season five teams that missed the year before.
There are plenty of candidates for that in 2017-18, including Dallas and Winnipeg in the West and Carolina, Tampa Bay, Florida, Philadelphia and the New York Islanders in the East.
The Hurricanes got a couple of Blackhawks castoffs — goaltender Scott Darling and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk — and signed Justin Williams, who has won the Cup three times and was playoff MVP in 2014.