Capitals forced to get creative in midst of salary cap crunch
SAN JOSE, CALIF. Washington Capitals general manager Brian Maclellan has spent more time talking about injuries, the roster and the salary cap this season than ever before.
From two players having to spend time on long-term injured reserve to having multiple shorter-term injuries to shuffling players to and from the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in Hershey, Pa., Washington’s front office has kept busy and all of it is complicated by the salary cap.
“I think we’re day to day making decisions,” Maclellan told reporters last week. “It’s tough. We can play that game of projecting ... are we gonna have a guy on LTI or not on LTI? I mean, there’s so many factors that go into the day-to-day decisions.”
That continued Monday in San Jose with Chandler Stephenson being traded to the Golden Knights for a 2021 fifth-round draft pick. Washington needed to clear space to allow forward Carl Hagelin to come off long-term injured reserve and play Tuesday night against San Jose. Hagelin, who has a $2.75-million cap hit, had missed the last 11 games.
Washington also sent forward Beck Malenstyn and defenceman Christian Djoos to Hershey in cap-related moves anticipating the returns of Hagelin and Nicklas Backstrom.
But even after all those moves, the Capitals remain in a salary cap bind. They currently have only one extra forward on the roster: Travis Boyd. Per Capfriendly.com, Washington has just enough space to recall a seventh defenceman if needed. However, while on their three-game West Coast trip, the Capitals are carrying just six.
Washington’s roster has been a constant jigsaw puzzle in which the final pieces often are determined purely on salary.
“Half the teams in the league — more than half the teams in the league — are in the same spot we’re in where you’re right at the cap, you’re $1 million away from the cap,” Maclellan said. “When you get injuries, it forces you to make certain decisions that you might not normally make.”
Some decisions don’t allow much time to strategize, such as when the team played 11 forwards and seven defencemen in its 5-2 loss to Montreal after Nic Dowd and Hagelin were ruled out that morning. The team had only enough cap space to call up a defenceman: Tyler Lewington, who is the cheapest player in the organization with a $675,000 cap hit. Any forward, such as Boyd, carried at least a $700,000 cap hit.
Lewington’s call-up couldn’t even happen the night before the game because the Capitals accumulated enough money only that morning. At times this season, had anyone got hurt, the Capitals did not have enough space to call up anyone from Hershey, according to the team.
The day after Lewington was called up, he was sent back down along with backup goaltender Ilya Samsonov so the team could get a proper 12 forwards and six defencemen on the roster. In the exchange, they recalled Boyd and goaltender Vitek Vanecek.
But as any coach will attest to, roster moves can’t be decided solely on salary. Before the season started, coach Todd Reirden said he wanted to stress to his players that the best lineup would play each night. Yes, the cap was a problem, but the team knew how to get creative.
“That’s part of the decision,” Reirden said. “And ultimately what ends up happening is you end up putting the best players on the ice and it’s up to me to find a way to make it work.”
These factors culminated in Monday’s trade. Having to choose between Stephenson and Boyd as the extra, the Capitals decided Boyd had outplayed Stephenson since his recall from Hershey. Boyd was cheaper and producing more.