Rumor: Capitals cap situation could force them to lose one of their big 3.

The Washington Capitals have concluded some important business this summer but many pundits are now starting to look at the Capitals cap situation and pondering how in the world they will manage it come the 2020 - 2021 National Hockey League regular season.

Not only are the Capitals currently over the salary cap following the signing of 25 year old forward Chandler Stephenson, but they are over a million dollars over the salary cap for the 2019 - 2020 NHL regular season. Now that isn't a particularly big deal at the moment due to the fact that Washington can exceed the cap by 10% during the offseason, however it will become a bigger issue due to the expiring contracts on their payroll. Specifically the contract of arguably the organization's 3 biggest stars, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Braden Holtby.

Holtby and Backstrom will both be unrestricted free agents at the end of this season and if the contracts being handed out in the NHL are any indication it will cost the Capitals some serious cash to get them re-signed. Backstrom, still an elite center in the NHL, will almost certainly get a raise from his current salary of $6.7 million per season and if the recent signings of star goaltenders like Carey Price or Sergei Bobrovsky are any indication, Holtby will also seek a significant raise on his current salary of $6.1 million per season. 

Those two deals alone could put the Capitals in some serious financial straights and then there's the matter of the organization's superstar player, Alex Ovechkin. NBC Sports' Adam Gertz believes Ovechkin's next deal, one that the Capitals will be eligible to sign him do as of July 1st 2020, will break the $10 million dollar mark in terms of average annual value. That would make all 3 deals nearly impossible to manage for the Capitals without making drastic alterations to their roster, and it is for that reason that Gertz believes the Capitals are likely to shed one of the 3, barring the players all taking significant discounts on their next deals. 

So who does Gertz feel that player will be? There's no doubt in his mind about which of the 3 is the most expendable for the Capitals. From NBC Sports:

If the Capitals have to move on from one of their big-three, Holtby is the most logical choice. He is the one that is probably least likely to retain most of his current value in future seasons, and even though he has been a top-tier goalie for so many years he is also probably the one they have the best chance of replacing.

There's no doubt that fans in Washington would protest the idea of moving on from Holtby, however it is hard to argue with Gertz's perspective on this one. Of the 3 players Holtby is the only player that has truly shown signs of decline, including losing the net during Washington's run to the Stanley Cup, and the big money deals going out to goaltenders in the NHL these days may make keeping him on the Capitals roster an unrealistic proposition.