Washington Capitals general manager Chris Patrick met with the media on Thursday to discuss the team’s plans ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
“I’m not going to really get into it other than we’ve been really happy with all our guys on expiring deals this year,” Patrick said. “We’ve talked to all their representatives and we’re kind of in various stages with all of them and we’ll keep working here. But no real immediate deadline on any of them, so we can take our time and do it right.”
Chychrun has been an instant fit on the Capitals’ blueline since the team acquired him from the Ottawa Senators last summer. The 26-year-old defenseman has 39 points (17g, 22a) in 55 games for Washington, sitting third among all defensemen in the league with 17 goals.
The hot-shooting rearguard told RMNB in early February that his agent had started discussions with the Capitals about his future. He has also previously stated that he loves playing in DC and hoped a contract solution would soon be worked out between the two parties.
“We love the group, we love the staff – there’s a lot of familiar faces throughout my time in the NHL in this organization who I’ve been with in the past, and that made the transition a lot smoother – and we’ve loved living here,” Chychrun said in mid-January. “We’ve loved living in Virginia, and driving by the White House every day on your way to work is really cool. I just think it’s been a blast.”
According to updated AFP Analytics projections, Chychrun’s next contract should be a seven-year, $54.9 million deal ($7.84M AAV) with the current NHL salary cap estimations for next season ($95.5M).
Lindgren’s future with the club was potentially muddied when the Capitals inked Logan Thompson, his goaltending tandem mate, to a six-year extension in January. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reported days later that Washington was exploring a potential contract extension for Lindgren worth $3.5 to $4 million annually, but no further developments have come out since then.
The 31-year-old netminder has spent most of the season alternating starts with Thompson. In 27 appearances, he is 13-10-3 with a 2.70 goals-against average, a .898 save percentage, and one shutout. Patrick expressed his appreciation of the team’s goaltending setup this season, specifically mentioning that it has allowed each goalie to stay rested throughout a grueling schedule.
“Yeah, it’s been huge,” Patrick said. “I think the trick with goaltending in this league is playing someone that can help get you a win and not burning him out so that by game 82 you’ve got a guy that’s had a heavy workload and is going into the playoffs kind of trying to hold his body together. And I think having two really strong goaltenders has given us the ability to, one, win hockey games, and, two, we have two guys that hopefully be really fresh going into the playoffs to help us win games.”
Per AFP Analytics projections, Lindgren’s next contract is projected to be a two-year, $9.6 million deal ($4.8M AAV). If Washington were to sign him to that exact contract, they’d be committing around $10.65 million of salary cap space to goaltending for the next two seasons.
