BY ALIN MATEESCU – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
With puckdrop for the 2012-13 NHL season set for Saturday, it is now time to examine each team’s roster as they head into a shortened 48 game season. Here is my look at the Washington Capitals and the possible questions facing their roster, their cap space, their unrestricted free agents and their restricted free agents. Salary cap and cap space provided by capgeek.com.
Salary Cap: $64,194,572 (11)
Cap Space: $6,005,428
Players Signed: 25
UFA: RW – Mike Knuble (Detroit invite), LW – D.J. King
RFA: none
Losing veteran puckstopper Tomas Vokoun will hurt the Capitals, IF Michal Neuvirth can’t solidify himself as a true number one goalie. If he and Braden Holtby form a dependable goaltending tandem, the Capitals would be fine between the pipes.
While trading for Dallas Stars center Mike Ribeiro won’t do anything for their questions in net, it will help an offence that lost Alexander Semin (54 points last season) and Dennis Wideman (46 points). Offensive leaders like Alex Ovechkin (66), Nicklas Backstrom (44), Brooks Laich (41) will have to up their game for the Capitals to be successful.
If all else fails, $6,005,428 in cap space should be enough to add a forward or two to help up front.
Alin Mateescu is a full-time Front-end Web Developer with a passion for Online Marketing, Digital Media, and Web Development. Web Strategist. Sports junkie. Creator of iTalkHockey blog network. Managing Editor at RumorMeThis.com and RumorMeThat.com. Find out more about me at about.me/alinmat
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