NHL Rumors: Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals, and Justin Faulk

Bergevin on a Hurricanes offer sheet one day

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin when asked about the Carolina Hurricanes trying to offer sheet one of their restricted free agents one day.

“(Also smiling) I’ll deal with that if it does happen. I’m not worried about that. Like I said, it’s part of the CBA.”

May not be realistic for the Capitals to re-sign both Braden Holtby and Nicklas Backstrom

J.J. Ragan of NBC Sports: Washington Capitals GM Brian MacLellan would like to keep both Braden Holtby and Nicklas Backstrom beyond this season. Both are entering the final year of their contracts.

“We’re going to communicate with both players,” MacLellan said at media day. “Both guys have been a big part of our organization, big part of our success. We’d love to keep both. We’re going to play it out until the end here.”

It may not be realistic to keep both players though. Holtby could use Sergei Bobrovsky as a comparable – seven years at $10 million per. Backstrom could be looking for at least $7 million a season, maybe up to $8.5 million. Is there a discounted price?

“There’s always that area where you can work with, but at the same time you have a responsibility to the other players in the league too,” Holtby said at media day when asked about taking less money to stay with the Caps.

Given the Capitals cap situation for next year and a potential modest increase in the salary cap, the Caps would need to move out some salary to bring both back.