Washington Capitals general manager Chris Patrick is ready to play defense with a couple of important soon-to-be restricted free agents on his roster. On July 1, both forward Connor McMichael and defenseman Martin Fehervary are eligible for contract extensions ahead of becoming RFAs in the summer of 2026.
The two former draft picks have become vital pieces of the Capitals and are due raises after each had a career-best 2024-25 season. Patrick sounds willing to play ball with the two prized youngsters, especially after he and the rest of the league witnessed some offer sheet poaching of RFAs last offseason.
“I think we’d like to be ahead of the curve on our higher-end restricted free agents,” Patrick said last week. “I mean, you saw what happened last year with Edmonton. You get yourself in a tough spot pretty quickly if a team gets aggressive, so we’d like to make sure we’re covered off there.”
The Edmonton Oilers lost both defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway to offer sheets tendered by the St. Louis Blues on August 13. The Blues, taking advantage of a cash-strapped Oilers club, inked Broberg to a two-year, $9.16 million contract and Holloway to a two-year, $4.58 million contract.
In return, as compensation, the Oilers received a 2025 second-round pick and a 2025 third-round pick for two players they had previously used first-round picks to select. The moves immediately paid dividends for the Blues. Broberg notched 29 points (8g, 21a) in 68 games and averaged 20:30 of ice time per game in a top-four role, while Holloway broke out with 63 points (26g, 37a) in 77 games after previously only having 18 career NHL points.
While successful offer sheets are rare, teams may be more willing to test the waters in the short term after seeing how successful the Blues were and given how the salary cap is set to rise exponentially over the next few years. The Capitals can avoid that stress by signing the two to extensions early.
McMichael set new career highs in goals (26), assists (31), and points (57) in 82 games this year. He mentioned his desire to sign long-term with the Caps on Breakdown Day. Fehervary also set new career highs in assists (20) and points (25) in 81 games.
In a worst-case scenario, the Capitals wouldn’t just lose McMichael or Fehervary for free. They would retain compensation from the signing team, scaling in amount according to the AAV of the contract signed by the departing player.
Other big names like Matthew Knies, Evan Bouchard, Connor Bedard, Jason Robertson, Thomas Harley, Lane Hutson, Adam Fantilli, Logan Cooley, Leo Carlsson, Logan Stankoven, JJ Peterka, and Luke Hughes, among others, are also RFAs either this summer or the next. Many, if not all, will likely sign contracts with their current clubs before any questions can even be asked.
The Capitals have several RFAs to deal with over the next few months, including Alex Alexeyev, Hendrix Lapierre, Henrik Rybinski, Pierrick Dubé, Mitchell Gibson, and Garin Bjorklund.
