11:50am: Lundqvist has officially signed with the Capitals and will earn $1.5MM this season.
9:15am: There may not be a flurry of signings made official when the free agent market opens up but TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports (Twitter link) that one move that’s expected to be announced is the Capitals signing goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to a one-year deal. The contract is expected to be worth $1.5MM which would bring his total compensation for 2020-21 to $4.5MM with the Rangers paying him $3MM from last week’s buyout.
The 38-year-old has spent his entire 15-year NHL career in New York where he holds several franchise records. However, with Igor Shesterkin impressing in his first NHL action late last season and Alexandar Georgiev still in the fold, there wasn’t much room for Lundqvist and keeping him around at a $8.5MM AAV just wasn’t in the cards. Last season, he played in 30 games (26 starts), posting a 3.16 GAA with a .905 SV%.
While there wasn’t a fit for him to remain with the Rangers, there certainly is with Washington. Braden Holtby is set to depart in free agency which leaves the still-untested Ilya Samsonov as their starter. The 23-year-old has just 26 NHL appearances under his belt and wasn’t able to play in the playoffs due to injury. Lundqvist should be a good mentor for Samsonov while still being able to take on a notable workload to allow the youngster to ease into the starting role. The move also means that Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek should remain as their goaltending tandem at AHL Hershey.
Assuming the deal is made official, the Capitals will be roughly $4MM under the salary cap with RFA blueliner Jonas Siegenthaler needing a new deal plus Washington having to add a few players to fill out their roster. If they make any other moves in free agency, expect them to be low-salaried acquisitions as a result.
As a Rangers fan, sucks to see King Henrik sign with a division rival. But as a Lundqvist fan, I love seeing him get a chance with a serious Stanley cup contender.
My sentiments exactly.
I have no idea why they did it, but the NHL got rid of the legal tampering period this year.
While mostly harmless, this would seem to be a blatant violation.
I know of no exception for bought out players to negotiate early, otherwise, why would he have to wait until noon like everyone else to sign?
It’s a signing window. He has negotiated but, can’t sign officially till noon. Only RFA’s or extensions are permitted from draft through beginning of free agency.