Games Over

Don't look now, but two of three most recent Stanley Cup winners are officially booking tee times as you read this. The Colorado Avalanche finished off their sweep of the St. Louis Blues today, and that loss was followed by the Boston Bruins winning their fourth-straight game to eliminate the Washington Capitals in five games. A couple of short postseason runs likely means there will be changes in both cities regarding personnel on the ice, but it won't be easy to correct the problems on the ice.

We'll start in Washington where the Capitals repeated their five-game appearance from a year ago. After losing to lower-ranked teams in the first round in the last three years of playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup, the Capitals will need to take a long, hard look at their rosters and determine who stays and who goes as the core of their team is getting older while the younger players seemingly haven't developed fast enough.

The first point of business for the Capitals in this offseason is to address the looming free agency problem posed by Alexander Ovechkin. With just over $33.6 million tied up in TJ Oshie, Niklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Anthony Mantha, and Tom Wilson along with another $21 million already dedicated to John Carlson, Brendan Dillon, Justin Schultz, and Dmitry Orlov, the Capitals will have to make some hard decisions on who to move this season if they want to keep Ovechkin in the US capital.

That cap situation also needs to be examined if the Capitals are going to address the elephant in the room that is their woeful goaltending they received in the five games against the Bruins. Ilya Samsonov, thought to be the goalie to supplant the magic of Braden Holtby, fell flat on his face against the Bruins, posting an 0-3 record on the strength of a 2.99 GAA and an .899 save percentage. When 41 year-old Craig Anderson is outplaying the younger, faster netminder who was to be the heir apparent, that's a problem.

As of right now, Vitek Vanecek appears to be the front-runner for the job, and he's signed for one more season. All of Samsonov, Anderson, and Henrik Lundqvist are free agents, and that leaves just Vanecek, Pheonix Copley, and Zach Fucale as the netminders who will guard the twine next season, potentially without Ovechkin based on the salary cap pinch in which the Capitals find themselves.

The teardown of this team will likely start with Evgeny Kuznetsov who, between him and Jakub Vrana, was the wrong player to keep. Kuznetsov's abhorrent defensive play, his bloated $7.8 million contract that runs through 2025, and the problems he's had off the ice likely make him the hardest to move, though. The Capitals may be forced to buy him out if they want him gone because it's hard to see any team being comfortable with everything Kuznetsov has done over the past three years.

While he was seen as a big acquisition at the deadline for the Capitals, Anthony Mantha might be the most attractive piece to move in order to free up cap space. Mantha had four goals and four assists in 14 regular season games with the Capitals, so there's certainly some ability to find the back of the net for the 26 year-old, and his cap hit of $5.7 million through 2024 will allow some teams to kick the tires on him.

Regardless of who is available, the biggest issue might be how the Capitals are being run. They've been a good regular season team under a couple of coaches, but the first-round losses in three consecutive seasons - including just ten postseason games in the last two combined - seem to indicate that the Capitals are a one-trick pony which has seen the all three of the Hurricanes, Islanders, and Bruins take down the Capitals in short order. In saying this, it should be no surprise that the last time the Capitals advanced out of the opening round, Barry Trotz was still the head coach.

Needless to say, the roster of the Capitals is nearing an overhaul more by necessity than by choice, and this summer might be the best time to start that process.

The Blues, ironically, face a lot of the same problems that the Capitals do in that they too face some hard decisions when it comes who to keep and who can be set adrift, but the vast number of free agents that St. Louis has will make that decision easier. They could use some additional youth to step in and help the key veterans, but there seems to be little on the way to help.

The Blues will have to make decisions on free agents Jayden Schwartz, Tyler Bozak, Mike Hoffman, and Nathan Walker who earned a combined $15.05 million this season. At best, two should be brought back, and it's likely that Schwartz and Hoffman are the two that Blues should discuss. Bozak is 35 and has seen his play decline while Walker was barely used at all this season.

With seven restricted free agents in play, the Blues will need to evaluate which of these players is worth the investment. Vince Dunn appears to be on his way out while Josh Dakota and Jacob De La Rose would be better suited on two-way deals. Ivan Barbashev, Jordan Kyrou, and Zach Sanford can be good pieces for the Blues, so it will be interesting to see how they handle these three players. The one restricted free agent who is likely up for a big raise? Robert Thomas who shown that he can be an everyday contributor in the Blues' lineup.

Like Washington, the elephant in the room has to be the play of Jordan Binnington who, at times this season, looked like his Stanley Cup-winning self, but those moments of greatness were too few and often too far apart to string together any sort of consistent play that would make one confident in his starter role. His 2.65 GAA and .910 save percentage were similar to last season where he posted a 30-13-7 record, but his 18-14-8 record was far more indicative of his playing behind a team that struggled to score goals at times this season where Binnington simply couldn't steal a win or three.

The Blues do need a competent backup to push Binnington as Jake Allen did before being traded to Montreal. Of the unrestricted free agents who tend the nets, the most ideal player for the Blues to sign would be a guy like Florida's Chris Dreidger who got some great minutes with Florida this year, but his price tag might be high as he searches for a chance to start in the league. What is certain is that the Blues need to find someone who can push Binnington to be better in order to help them steal a few games.

Take nothing away from the Boston Bruins or the Colorado Avalanche in their series against the Capitals and Blues, respectively. We're seeing two incredibly well-coached teams executing at a high level as star players are making an impact for those two teams. They'll remain Stanley Cup favourites until someone says otherwise, but the Bruins and Avalanche deserve some credit for exposing some critical holes in both the Capitals and Blues that need to be fixed if those two teams are going to rise to prominence again.

For now, though, they've got some work to do this off-season.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

*All salary cap numbers found on Capfriendly.com.