Washington Capitals 2018-19 Season Preview

With the UFA dust settling down we can get a good look at how the Washington Capitals roster is taking shape for next year. GM Mitchell didn't look overly busy during the FA period signing only 4 players to the pro roster. Johnny Boychuk is probably the biggest name, he signed a 1 year deal for $4,600,000. The other three players inked were veteran center Matt Cullen to a 2 year deal for $2,187,500 per year, grinder Cal Clutterbuck on a 2 year deal worth $3,500,000 per year and defender Andrej Sustr for 3 years at $1,000,000 per year.

"We had bigger targets this UFA period, we just got priced out of our targets and ended up missing secondary targets who landed elsewhere for good value" Said GM Mitchell. "There is still time to tinker with the line-up through the trade route but we're comfortable rolling into the year with what we have."

One target that was missed in UFA was a replacement for last seasons back-up Curtis McElhinney. The team tried to bring Curtis back, then turned their attention to Anton Khudobin but were out priced on both. So the Capitals ended up looking on the trade market and grabbed Andres Lindback for a 5th round selection & cash. Lindback might not be a top flight back-up but he should be solid enough to take on the minimum 10 game work load from starter Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Chris Summers also signed a deal as a UFA to return to the Hershey Bears. As you may remember Summers was nearly killed in a pre-season contest in year 1, colliding with the crossbar as goalie Matt Hackett looked on in horror. "This is an emotional return for me." Said Summers as he wiped a tear from his eye. "Matt was the first person to text me and welcome me back to the organization. Hopefully I have better luck this go around."

Next up the team will be looking to hire a pro coach to replace Ken Hitchcock prior to training camp opening up. The team has been tight lipped about who is on their short list and has been having meetings in private. We should know more this week about who the team is targeting.

As for battles in training camp, lets look at the teams depth at each position and guess at how the roster will take shape:

Centers:

The 4 centers appear set, with 4 pro centers on the roster

1st line: Anze Kopitar

2nd line: Sean Couturier

3rd line: Thomas Plekanec

4th line: Matt Cullen

Challenging in Camp: J.T. Compher

Left Wing:

The team is deepest on the left side this year and have a few players waiting in the wings for an opportunity.

1st line: Anders Lee

2nd line: Ondrej Palat

3rd line: Matt Nieto

4th line: Sonny Milano

Challenging in camp: Jordan Greenway, Kevin Roy

Right Wing:

Depth at right wing has been a problem for the Capitals since day 1, and looks to be weak again this year

1st line: Rick Nash

2nd line: Tobias Rieder

3rd line: Cal Clutterbuck

4th line: Emerson Etem

Challenging in camp: N/A

Defence:

The defence doesn't look quite as weak with Boychuk signed to a 1 year deal, however with players like Dennis Cholowski & Kale Clague waiting in the wings this team should be set for years on the back-end. For now the top 2 pairings appear set.

1st pairing: Jay Bouwmeester - Rasmus Ristolainen

2nd pairing: Johnny Boychuk - Aaron Ekblad

3rd pairing: Nick Jensen - Andrej Sustr

7th Dman: Ian McCoshen

Challenging in camp: Jordan Schmaltz, Victor Mete, Chris Summers

Goaltending:

There doesn't appear to be any camp battle for the role of back-up, so if Lindback faulters trade is the only route the team has.

Starter: Andrei Vasilevskiy

Backup: Anders Lindback

Challenging in Camp: N/A