The Washington Capitals deal with the Salary Cap
The NHL has changed dramatically since the Salary Cap was introduced. The most glaring example of what effect the cap can have on a team would be the Chicago Blackhawks. Their predicament shows what happens when a team fails to manage salaries and fails
to consider the long term future. Chicago offers a lesson on what not to do, a lesson that the Washington Capitals have already learned.
The Capitals plan on getting together a team full of young players who they’d groom and keep for years to come. Even the current roster consists mostly of familiar names that have been with the Caps for years.
“We cast our lot with our young players and it was a strategic decision,” Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said. Leonsis hopes that the Caps would be perennial strong team and stay intact for the years to come. “Giving the younger players a shot to find their
place here is a large part of that.” Over the years the team’s management has kept an eye out for up and coming talents while at the same time they closely watched opportunities under the Salary Cap. The offseason’s free agent frenzy didn’t interest the caps.
The decision to sit out free agency this year reflects their commitment to keep the current team together.
Washington has held on to their draft picks over the years. The Caps captain, Alexander Ovechkin was first overall draft pick for the Washington Capitals in the lockout year. He has stayed with Washington ever since and proved invaluable to the franchise.
Ovechkin isn’t the only one. Capital’s Niklas Backstrom was a fourth overall draft pick, Alexander Semin was a 13th overall in 2002, Eric Fehr was 18th overall in 2003, and Boyd Gordon was 17th overall draft pick in 2002.
All of them stayed with the Capitals and have now become key players in Washington and the trend continues. The Caps are making an effort to keep their young acquisitions and try to make them the Ovechkin or Backstrom of 2014. “We came up with this plan
years ago, and fortunately ownership stood by it. Ted stood by the plan,” General Manager George McPhee said. McPhee noted that not all owners would have the patience do develop their own talent or invest the time and energy. Washington was patient and it
has paid off.
When the Caps open their regular season on Friday against Atlanta, they would put 11 of their own first round draft picks on the ice. The league average is four and the closest any team comes to Washington would have 7 of their own draft picks. “It's a good
team. They're our guys, and hopefully it leads to a Cup one of these days,” McPhee said. It’s not just a home grown team. It is also one of the younger teams in the NHL. The average age for Washington is 26.54 while the league average is 27.8.
That makes the Caps roster one of the more inexperienced ones in the league but that too is part of a well thought out plan. Four of seven of Washington’s blue liners are younger than 25. But Washington is unfazed. They believe the best place to get the
talent they need on the ice is home. Washington wouldn’t bring in a veteran to fill a temporary spot to risk the future integrity of the team. Leonsis went on to explain that some moves that appear to make sense would have been destructive for the team. “Because
when it came to re-signing some guys that could be foundational players in the future, we wouldn't be able to do it,” Leonsis explained.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said that the Capitals were a good example of a team that continues to build itself. Daly said that when a team secures core players to long term contracts and experience success, players who don't form the core come to
the team because they see that it awould remain competitive for years to come. “That's when you see players being willing to take less to play there. That's how a team can stay together.”
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