Among the many pieces of interest in Isabelle Khurshudyan’s excellent profile of Evgeny Kuznetsov for the Washington Post, was the fact that the 24-year old center would love to stay in Washington for his whole career, and that Capitals’ GM Brian MacLellan admits a long-term deal could be in the future. Kuznetsov is a restricted free agent this summer and is coming off another excellent season with 59 points in 82 games—already the third season in which he’s played at least 80. That durability is a big part of why he’s such an important piece for the Capitals to lock up long-term, but it won’t be easy for them to do so this summer.
Washington has quite a bit of money coming off the books, and with Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky, Brett Connolly, Dmitry Orlov, Nate Schmidt, Phillip Grubauer and a host of minor league players all set to become restricted free agents, it is still going to be a tight squeeze. Should the team want to re-sign any of the excellent veterans—T.J. Oshie, Karl Alzner, Kevin Shattenkirk and Justin Williams to name a few—that are heading to unrestricted free agency, it will be even tighter. Handing out long-term deals may seem like a good idea, but it just might not be possible for everyone in Washington.
- The Minnesota Wild have called up Steve Michalek from the AHL to serve as their third goaltender tonight. In the playoffs, teams often carry an emergency netminder in case something happens to one of theirs in the warm-up. As Michael Russo of the Star Tribune explains, this will likely be Alex Stalock after the next two Iowa Wild games. Stalock started two games down the stretch for the Wild over Darcy Kuemper, and it is still unknown who would go into the net should Devan Dubnyk falter or suffer an injury.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins recent history with turning minor league players into capable NHLers helped them land one of the biggest NCAA prizes this spring, as Shawn P. Roarke of NHL.com writes in his latest piece. Zach Aston-Reese admits that it was part of his decision to sign there: “to see how much [AHL players] have grown as players and contributed to the team’s success at the NHL level, that was really attractive.” Conor Sheary, Bryan Rust and Tom Kuhnackl are all prime examples of what starting off your young players in the minors can do for their development, as the Penguins head into the playoffs with a lot riding on players like those three.