Washington Capitals: Best Addition And Worst Subtraction Of The Summer

Now that the off-season seems to be slowing down, we have a pretty good idea of every team's roster heading into this upcoming year. In this segment, we will be going over the best addition and worst subtraction for each of them. Something important to note is that players who were re-signed or given extensions will not be eligible for the "best addition" section. The same applies for 2021 draft picks.

In this piece, we will be focusing on the Washington Capitals. Due to having limited cap space and needing to re-sign Alexander Ovechkin, they did not make too many major moves this off-season. In fact, they had more subtractions than additions. Yet, the Capitals still look like a good team on paper, so there may not be too much to worry about. We will see how they respond to their roster changes starting in just one month.

Best Addition: Vitek Vanecek

Although the Capitals were not very active this off-season, they were thankfully able to bring back Vitek Vanecek. He was taken by the Seattle Kraken at the Expansion Draft, but after they won the Philipp Grubauer sweepstakes, he became expendable. Thus, the Capitals were able to re-acquire him through trade. This is a big addition because Vanecek was their top goalie last season in his rookie year and it would have been rough for Washington without him. In 37 games, he sported a 21-10-4 record and had a .908 SV%. Washington fans should be happy that they have the 25-year-old goalie back.

Worst Subtraction: Brenden Dillon

The Capitals may have lost two veterans in Zdeno Chara and Michael Raffl, but trading away Brenden Dillon is the most significant of their subtractions. Dillon is a very solid top-four defenseman in this league because of how stable he often is in his own zone. In 56 games last season, he scored two goals and had 19 points. Thankfully for the Capitals, they do have prospect Martin Fehervary in their system who could end up taking his spot in the lineup. However, losing a dependable veteran defenseman and not having a proven replacement for him is a bit risky. The same can be said about Chara.

Check out our previous post on the Arizona Coyotes. In our next installment, we will be focusing on the Boston Bruins.