Interested in Bennett?

No, not really. Don't think Caps need this type of player.

I don't know why this team resigned Hags, He was done after that ankle break. Just done. Legs gone.
Even if retained 50% no one is taking him.

It's nice when fans of rival teams chime in. What do you think of OP letting Ovechkin walk? That a good idea too? Thanks for playing.

OV will do what OV wants to do, there is no point in arguing that which is why I didn't.
Honestly my thing, since you asked, with OV is it depends on the contract. That shouldn't surprise you or anyone else. Resign OV at all costs isn't the smartest game plan for WSH. I would hope you are smart enough to understand that. If he comes to you talking 8 year 10 million deal, even you must understand that's a non starter.
He's gonna be 36. I know WSH fans can be obsessed that he hasn't slowed but then there is reality. It's not even so much the dollar amount the I worry about the 10 mil range is fine as long as he's producing but the length at that amount must have a short leash. 2 years etc... because I wouldn't want to be stuck holding that long term and frankly neither would anyone else.
So lets not pretend there aren't scenario's where letting OV walk isn't a good idea. The fact that you take that part of this seriously kind of shows absurdity. We both know they aren't going to let him walk unless his demands are not realistic. But I'm sure you'd want him for 10 mil per for 6 years or something ridiculous right? Good luck getting stuck with that bill. I'd be more than happy to let him walk if that's what someone else wants to give him.

Whether or not it's the quickest path to Cup contention is a debate in and of itself, but Ovechkin isn't going to be walking. We're going to do everything we can to win with him until he retires/goes back to Russia. Ovechkin's chase to 895 is going to be one of the biggest storylines until he retires, and the Caps are going to market that hard to make up for some of the pandemic losses.

As fans of teams that have generational superstars that guys take discounts to come and play with, we sometimes forget what they're actually worth. As an outsider the most likely path of Ovechkin likely looks like the Sedins in Van or Lidstrom/Chelios in Detroit, taking a bunch of short term deals with the team making clear that he's welcome back for as long as he wants to play. But if they didn't have Ovechkin this year, the Caps wouldn't have Chara at league minimum. They wouldn't have Kuznetsov at all. Who knows if Backstrom and Carlson would still be in town? You take away a few of those guys, and suddenly the Caps aren't that great. So I think I'd lean towards keeping him, even if I'm sure the team is going to negotiate and try to talk with him about the salary cap picture of what it takes to stay in contention.

This is like saying the penguins wouldn't have malkin, or letang or etc..... if Crosby wasn't there....None of which is true.
Like I said above. That contract has it's limits on what is acceptable and for good reasons. You don't give guys who are 36 8 year deals.
He'll do what he wants, but WSH will be wise not to do anything incredibly stupid. And that there lies the balance they need to figure out.

I don't think it's all on the team. Ovechkin has seen how big contracts and bad seasons turned fans against Jeff Schultz, Alex Semin, and even Braden Holtby a little bit. He wants to win. He knows that takes a team. I don't see it being an issue.