If Halak plays (in '19-20) like he did last year, he'll get more than his previous salary (AAV: $2,75M) so $2,5M forget that

edited

Halak's a good goalie. He got four more wins than Copley last year, and only played in 50% more games.

Samsonov is either ready or not. If he’s not we should trade him and sign holtby.

At first my response is to preach patience, and say you'd be trading away enough good players to make cap space for Holtby, and I don't know who you'd want to trade Samsonov for.

Then I remembered a minute ago I was discussing what the Caps would do if Kuznetsov starts this year on IR in a rehab program, and I started wondering if there was any way the Caps could trade for an NHL-ready top-six center who's still waiver-exempt. Samsonov's probably the best piece to make such a trade, if any team is interested. My first thought was Kempny, because in my head a proven top pairing defender is worth more than a goalie prospect, but if the team is looking to trade for a #1C prospect, Samsonov is a much easier return to explain.

Im gonna have to disagree with you here

The only way i could see us trading samsonov is if we are 100% sure he wont be ready in the next two years. I would not like to sign Holtby to the massive contract he's going to request then a few years down the road be locked into a monster contract for a player on the wrong side of thirty. This roster i posted in my opinion is a worst case scenario where samsonov is *good* but needs another year or two to fully reach his starter potential.