That Holtby contract...oof.

i mean its literally the bobrovsky contract which is probably what he'll use as a baseline for his contract

The most that the Caps will have in bonus overages is $82,500. The only player on the roster right now that has a performance bonus is Siegenthaler.

The only time I'd give a goalie that kind of money is if he's an elite talent.

You telling me Holtby isn't? A Vezina, probably deserved a second one, helped us win a cup, how much more proven do you want him?

yeah but agents only care about getting the most money for a player and they're going to use a goaltender with similar achievements to holtby so holtby taking less than like $9,000,000 would surprise me

Rational agents care more about getting all their players signed, so they keep getting a little bit of steady income from each one, and letting each one keep achieving more, to earn future contracts. I don't think any agent earning 10% of Holtby's next contract is going to care much if he takes 6Mx8 in WSH vs 7x7 elsewhere. Either way, they get almost $5M, and if the're able to live off their other clients, they invest it all and it grows, and they get ridiculously rich.

The bigger concern in this build: Orlov for two 2nd round picks? Wow. Every team with cap space takes that. Or if there's any worry that they don't, then the team should give Orlov a little bit more power play time this year, and let him "break out" for the 50 points that most defensemen who put up 30 even strength points every year get.

And of course the assumption that Holtby will get a Bobrovsky offer is out there... but last year Holtby was bad enough that no fan of any team wants to trade for him on here. Nobody. Nowhere. Bobrovsky played a basement team up to the playoffs, and that's the last thing Florida saw before Luongo retired and gave them cap space to sign a goalie. Bobrovsky isn't just good. He's good right now, coming off a solid season. Holtby likely puts it all back together this year, but if he plays like he did last year--above average goaltending behind an above average defense that makes and above average rookie like Copley look like Jonathan Quick on his stat line--then the Caps can easily keep Holtby at the same salary if they win on term, and in terms of team identity, that's probably still a good move. You don't see LA or Chicago rushing to get rid of goalies who won them the Cup. Just Pittsburgh, and look how that's working out.