Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

After Their Moves, Are The Washington Capitals Better?

07/03/2015 at 11:00am EDT

from Chuck Gormley of CSNWashington,

By adding Williams and Oshie and losing Brouwer, the Caps now have $13.89 million in cap space, according to www.generalfanager.com. If we stick with the premise that Braden Holtby will earn roughly $6 million in his new contract and Evgeny Kuznetsov and Marcus Johansson combine for roughly $6 million, the Caps would enter next season with about $2 million in cap space, a perfect cushion to account for injury call-ups and trade deadline acquisitions.

But the big question is this: Are the Caps better today than they were when they were eliminated by the New York Rangers in Game 7 on May 13?

My answer is “yes” at the forward position and “no” on the blue line.

If you ask me if I’d rather have Williams and Oshie over Joel Ward, Troy Brouwer and Eric Fehr, my answer is “yes.”

If you ask me if I’d rather have Nate Schmidt, Dmitry Orlov and Taylor Chorney over Mike Green and Tim Gleason, I’d take Green and Gleason.

But we all knew the Caps couldn’t afford Green at $6 million and Gleason battled injuries through the playoffs.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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