from Alex Prewitt of Capitals Insider,

In his first meeting with reporters since committing nearly $70 million to three free agents this month, Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said the new regime under General Manager Brian MacLellan and Coach Barry Trotz addressed exactly what they targeted this offseason.

“As an owner, you set strategy and vision and budget,” he said. “Then you have to enable your people to do things. I green-lit that we could spend every dollar we could for goaltending and defense. That was my input.”

Now just $1.1 million shy of the salary cap, the Capitals gave a combined $69.65 million to defenseman Matt Niskanen, defenseman Brooks Orpik and goaltender Justin Peters on July 1, the first day of free agency. And while MacLellan, that day, described a busy scene inside the team offices, hustling between rooms for contractual approval, Leonsis seems to have taken a more hands-off approach, trusting in his two hires to make the ultimate calls.

“In fact, I think it was more that Mac would inform us in what he was going to do,” Leonsis said. We told him when we hired him, as we did, you and the coaches make the decisions. You need to be totally in sync. With the players that we signed, the players that we draft, you have to be in total sync. So far, so good on that. I think that’s a good move in a positive direction to have the organization all signing from the same songbook.”

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