With the expected subtraction of forward Michael Nylander‘s $4.875 million salary-cap hit, the Capitals will have a little bit of money to get by the rest of this season under the NHL’s $56.8 million limit.
Washington entered the season about $75,000 or so under the ceiling. That effectively handcuffs general manager George McPhee‘s ability to improve his club later in the year.
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With Nylander gone, however, wiggle room opens up. A healthy 23-man roster would put Washington about $4.2 million below the cap ceiling at this point in the season. That won’t get you a star player, but at the very least the Caps could add a quality defenseman as teams fall out of the playoff chase and dump pending free agents. The problem is there aren’t a ton of lower-price options on non-contending teams. And the ones that are — Dan Hamhuis (Nashville), Niclas Wallin (Carolina), Aaron Ward (Carolina), maybe Andy Sutton (New York Islanders) — are not necessarily better than what the Caps already have.
But the space would be there for internal solutions, too, if the front office thinks top prospects Karl Alzner or John Carlson — both playing well early this season at AHL Hershey — can contribute. Whether the organization’s top 10 defensemen are up to stopping the Flyers or Penguins in the playoffs is up for debate. But for now, it’s not an instant upgrade McPhee is after. It’s having the chance to get better that matters. With Nylander’s salary on the books, that can’t happen.
