Washington Capitals defenseman Christian Djoos was awarded a one-year deal worth $1.25 million by an independent arbitrator on Wednesday.
Djoos had carried a $650,000 average annual value on a two-year deal before it expired at the end of the season. Washington extended a $715,000 qualifying offer but Djoos declined.
The Capitals had requested $800,000 for arbitration while Djoos’s representation filed for $1.9 million. However, the arbitrator chose a number in between, $1.25 million.
Good for Djoos, who struggled through a compartment syndrome in his thigh that kept him out for two months last season. Bad for the Capitals, who had $935,000 in salary cap space following the re-signing of forward Jakub Vrana.
NHL teams are allowed to go up to 10 percent over the salary cap until the last day of training camp, but Washington will be forced to figure out how to restructure its roster had consisted of 13 forwards, six defensemen and two goalies under contract before Djoos was re-signed.
This is all while the Capitals still face another arbitration ruling on forward Chandler Stephenson.
If Djoos can prove he is healthy, he will compete for the No. 6 defenseman spot while five of the top-six blue-liners are set — John Carlson, Michal Kempny, Dmitry Orlov, Nick Jensen, and Radko Gudas.
That Djoos and Jonas Siegenthaler, who replaced Djoos last season while he was out injured and again in the Stanley Cup playoffs, for the sixth spot.
With the Capitals being over the salary cap by $314,294, according to CapFriendly, Washington may not have to do much to tweak the roster to get back under the cap.
Trading Djoos is a strong possibility. Tyler Lewington, who carries a $675,000 cap hit, could be called up for the seventh defenseman spot. Siegenthaler is waiver-exempt, so he could be sent to Hershey without fear being claimed by another team. Either move seem more likely than others and would require the smoothest transactions.
Every other possibility becomes tricky. Washington is locked into their top-10 forwards contracts after re-signing Carl Hagelin, Vrana, and acquiring Richard Panik and Garnet Hathaway this summer.
Any options that would include sending either Travis Boyd, Nic Dowd, or Brendan Leipsic to Hershey requires pairing with an additional move.
An arbitration ruling on Stephenson would add to the salary cap chaos. General manager Brian MacLellan did a good job this summer improving the team’s overall talent, but it came with a cost.
Now MacLellan has to figure out how to maneuver out of this mess by the end of training camp.
