Capitals: 2 reasons the Tom Wilson deal is bad, 1 it is good

Earlier in the week, the Washington Capitals made a big announcement. They announced that they had extended forward Tom Wilson.

Wilson signed a seven-year extension to remain with the Caps. He had one year left at 5.1 million and it will become 6.5 when the new deal kicks in.

The Capitals drafted Wilson with their first-round pick (16th overall) in the 2012 NHL Draft. He has become a very valuable player for them. In 2018, Wilson was a pivotal contributor to the Capitals team that won the Stanley Cup.

He has spent time early in his career on the fourth line but they knew he had tremendous skill. He combined his toughness with his ability to produce offense and became a top-line player.

However, with how hard he has played the game in his career, his body has broken down a bit recently. He was limited to 33 games in 2022-23 so it is fair to question this signing. These are two reasons it was a bad idea and one reason it was a good one:

1. Bad Contract – Age

The Washington Capitals are hoping that Tom Wilson doesn’t age poorly.

The Washington Capitals are not a young NHL team anymore. Most of their stars are on the older side.

They did win the Stanley Cup with their core so they are happy but if they want to become an elite team again, they will certainly need to get younger.

Wilson is not old by any means at 29 but adding seven years to the one year he had left ensures that he will be a highly-paid player into his late 30s.

Contracts like that don’t work out well very often for teams which is why this one is tough. Giving a 29-year-old with injury troubles a contract like that usually doesn’t work out well.

They are hoping that he can stay healthy for most of it as he ages but it isn’t looking promising as of right now.

2. Bad Contract – Washington is not good

The Washington Capitals want to have Tom Wilson on a good team again.

The Washington Capitals are in trouble. As mentioned before, they won the Stanley Cup in 2018 and have been competitive for most of the last decade. As a result, a lot of win-now decisions were made in the process.

In 2022-23, the team was already showing signs of slowing down. They missed the playoffs for the first time in a long time. They have the makeup of an older team that is on a downward slope.

Adding a contract like this for a player like this is not a good way to retool the roster either. That is a big cap hit and it is hard to see his game aging in a way that will allow it to be worth it.

That is money (cap space) and playing time potentially being taken away from a better option (when he is no longer a good player).

The fact that the Capitals may be bad isn’t good for him as a player either. He has won a Stanley Cup so he knows how amazing that is.

If he wants that feeling again, it might be hard with this Washington team. By the time they are good again, he will firmly be unworthy of this cap-hit.