Washington Capitals: Backstrom deal means end of Braden Holtby era

The re-signing of Nicklas Backstrom is a great thing for the Washington Capitals, but it also all but guarantees the end of goaltender Braden Holtby’s tenure in DC.

Washington Capitals fans got some great news early on Tuesday morning. The team announced they have agreed to a five-year extension worth $46 million with franchise center Nicklas Backstrom. This was inevitable, as the two parties had been negotiating for a few months. However, Backstrom’s new deal means there likely isn’t enough cap space for the Capitals to re-sign franchise goaltender Braden Holtby.

Both Backstrom and Holtby were scheduled to become unrestricted free agents for the first time in their respective careers on July 1, 2020. Though the former will be spending the next half-decade in DC barring a trade, the latter’s future is all but non-existent on the ice in Washington.

Backstrom’s extension leaves the Caps with $10,394,872 of cap space according to CapFriendly. It’s worth noting this is before factoring in a likely rise of the salary cap ceiling. The Capitals have 16 players under contract for next season and must re-sign some free agents, including restricted free agent defensemen Christian Djoos and Jonas Siegenthaler, as well as restricted free agent forwards Brendan Leipsic and Travis Boyd. On top of that, Alex Ovechkin and Jakub Vrana will need new deals after the 2020-21 season.

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There’s also the issue of re-signing unrestricted free agent defenseman Radko Gudas, who has been a steady presence on their blueline. He’s also been one of their top penalty killers and has given them an element of physicality on defense.

Holtby is set to be one of the best, if not the best, goaltenders on the free-agent market once July 1 comes around. Even if he likely won’t get a mega-deal like Sergei Bobrovsky, his impressive resume, which includes a Vezina Trophy (2015-16) and a Stanley Cup (2017-18) should guarantee him a nice raise from his current deal, which has a cap hit of $6.1 million.

End Of An Era

As a Capitals fan myself, I’ve accepted the Washington Capitals likely won’t bring back Holtby. However, it doesn’t make it any less painful, even though I’ve been preparing for the inevitable “Holtby has signed a deal with [insert team name other than the Capitals here]” tweet.

Few players in franchise history have been more popular than Holtby. He’s truly engaged in the DC community both on and off the ice. I’ll never forget the magical postseason of 2011-12, when Holtby almost single-handedly dragged the Caps past the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins. Watching him thrive under Barry Trotz from 2014-15 to 2017-18 was fun. And watching him lift the Stanley Cup in 2018 was a beautiful moment I won’t forget.

Holtby was one of the first NHL players to march in an LGTBQ+ pride parade. Not only that, he seemed to honestly enjoy representing the Capitals in those parades. Alex Ovechkin brought the energy while Holtby brought an eerie calmness to the table. No moment is too big for him, as he proved during the 2018 postseason. Few goalies could stand being benched and then thrown back into the fire, but Holtby did it.

All of this said, it’s for the best that the Capitals and Holtby part ways. Holtby deserves a big deal on his next contract. The Capitals should not be the team that gives him that deal. If the salary cap didn’t exist, I’d be all for Holtby sticking around if he understood he’d be taking a back seat to Ilya Samsonov, who has proven himself ready to take the keys to the franchise.

For many Capitals fans, franchise history can be defined in “eras” of goaltenders. There’s the Jim Carey era. What a disappointment that wound up being. Then, of course, there was the Olie Kolzig era. Those were the days. However, it’s telling the greatest moment in Washington Capitals history occurred during the Braden Holtby era. Some of the greatest Caps teams have had Holtby on the roster. That’s not a coincidence.

I’m an Eagle Scout. In Boy Scouts, my motto to my fellow scouts was always “leave everywhere you cross better than you found it”. If, and when, Holtby signs with a different team this offseason, he’ll leave Washington in a far better place than he found it. And no matter what happens from here on out, Holtby will always be a hero and champion to Capitals fans.