A year after an overhaul, the Caps are planning a quieter summer

Washington Post

19-05-2025

When Brian MacLellan spoke this time last year, after the Washington Capitals' season ended with a sweep in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs at the hands of the New York Rangers, the then-general manager planned for an aggressive offseason to come.
MacLellan spoke of improvement that day, driving home that he knew his team needed significant work to be a contender. This time around, when MacLellan, who moved into a role as Washington's president of hockey operations last summer, and Chris Patrick, who became general manager after MacLellan's move, met with the media, they struck a different tone.
Improvements, of course, will still be coming. No team that exits in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs — particularly the way the Capitals did, looking overmatched in a five-game series loss to the Carolina Hurricanes — sits down after the season completely pleased with how everything went. But a year after a major overhaul, this summer will have a different approach.
'I think we had some big spots to fill last year, our goals for roster spots. This year, there's fewer holes,' MacLellan said. 'We've had some growth in young players. We have some players that are young and are coming up to make the next jump, so you've got to be cognizant of leaving room for improvement, leaving room for guys to come in and, hopefully, still add a piece or two. It's not going to be the same as last year.'
Patrick added: 'It would be great to add another skilled player to our lineup, for sure. It would be great to also have a third line that is a really dependable third line. The Dowd line is effectively a third line; it would be great to have two third lines, like Nic's line. So those are two areas we'd like to improve on. Can you do both at the same time? I don't know. We're going to have to see what's available and what's out there. But those are certainly, at least, what my focus [is].'
The third line was Washington's biggest weakness this season. The year began with an unsuccessful stint for Hendrix Lapierre as the center on that line, which prompted an early-season trade for Lars Eller, who stabilized things but never found the production he or the Capitals had hoped for.
Lapierre went down to Hershey, Washington's American Hockey League affiliate, and spent the rest of the season there. They had a 'hard conversation' about the expectations when Lapierre was sent down, Patrick said, adding: 'He's done a really good job of taking what we said to heart. I think that's put him in a good position here to say, 'Hey, I'm deserving of this opportunity.''
Connor McMichael is another internal option, though he spent the vast majority of this season on the wing. McMichael said Saturday, at the players' season-ending media availability, that he sees himself as a center and would like to play center for the Capitals long-term.
Washington will hold its pro scouting meetings this week, with the scouting staff, analytics staff, Patrick and MacLellan coming together to assess each spot on the roster and potential options going forward. Where they slot McMichael, whether it's at center or on the wing, will impact how they approach moves this offseason, Patrick said.
McMichael has one year left on his current contract and will be a restricted free agent next summer. He expressed a desire to sign an extension as soon as possible; he's eligible for one this summer, and Patrick indicated that the Capitals would like to get it done, too.
'We'd like to be ahead of the curve on our higher-end restricted free agents,' Patrick said. 'You saw what happened last year with Edmonton [losing two players to offer sheets]. You get yourself in a tough spot pretty quickly if a team gets aggressive. We'd like to make sure we're covered off there.'
As part of the meetings this week, the Capitals will discuss their pending unrestricted free agents — Eller, Anthony Beauvillier, Andrew Mangiapane and Taylor Raddysh — as they decide if they'd like to re-sign any of them. Of the group, Beauvillier looks to have the best chance to stick around.
'This is a place that I would love to play here for a long time,' Beauvillier said Saturday. 'The group here is special. The city's awesome. Got to discover the city a little more over the last few months. Obviously, the fans are great. This would be a place that I would like to stay for a long time.'
'He did a great job,' Patrick said. 'I thought he came in as advertised and as we hoped. … He certainly made a very good case for himself and he showed that he's a good fit in our room.'
Patrick and MacLellan also confirmed that they are operating under the assumption that T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom, both of whom spent the season on long-term injured reserve and whose contracts expire at the end of June, are finished with their NHL careers.
'I think we're definitely going to continue to move on without them as part of our group. I don't have a lot of clarity on where their heads are at,' Patrick said. 'For every athlete, it's a very personal decision and they have to take their time to do it and we're trying to give them the time and space to do whatever they see fit.'
It's possible that the Capitals could use the $14.95 million in cap space freed up when Oshie and Backstrom's contracts expire, plus the jump from a salary cap of $88 million this year to $95.5 million next year, to take a big swing this offseason. Patrick expects the prices to be high but didn't rule out Washington being competitive in that market for a big player.
'I think a big hack this summer could potentially be like a really big hack,' he said. 'With a rising cap environment, a lot of teams that are looking to spend — the prices, I think we saw it at the trade deadline with the prices going up, I think it could follow the same path here in free agency. We'll see what we have available to spend, and hopefully we can be competitive in some of that stuff if we think it's the right fit.'
Winger Sonny Milano, who was injured against Nashville on Nov. 6 and didn't play again the rest of the season, is also in the category of being given time to figure things out. Milano was nearing a return around the trade deadline in March but suffered what Patrick called at the time a 'significant setback' and was off the ice for the remainder of the year.
'He worked really hard to try to come back,' Patrick said. 'I think he's still kind of in that process of trying to see if he can get himself healthy, and I think that's going to go into the summer and we're just going to have to see where he is as the summer goes on. We're going to have to give him some time and space to figure out where he is and how his injuries are holding up and go from there.'
Milano has one season left on his contract.