Trade Deadline: 3pm (eastern) on February 27, 2012

Working Contract Count: out of a maximum of 50 contracts

The Washington Capitals have 49 players under contract; however, Galiev and Anderson qualify for the contract slide due to their age and being assigned to juniors, so really working with 47 contracts.

(Note, Grubauer’s contract will slide, too, unless he plays in 10 NHL games this season.)

Washington Capitals Draft Pick Information

2012 draft picks

1st WAS

1st COL (from Varlamov trade)

2nd (see notes below)

3rd WAS

4th WAS

4th WPG (from Fehr trade)

5th WAS

6th WAS

7th WAS

Notes

- Add either Boston's 2nd in 2012 or Colorado's 2nd in 2013 (Washington's option) from Varlamov trade

- 2nd WAS: Traded to NJD in Arnott trade

2013 draft picks

- Rounds 1-6: WAS pick

- 7th: Depends on if they have or have not released Taylor Stefishen’s name from the reserve list; Conditionally traded to Nashville if Caps sign Taylor Stefishen by June 1, 2012 deadline

Capitals Cap Space

With 22 players (out of 23 allowed) on the active roster as of the time of this post, Backstrom on IR, plus Poti and Green on LTIR, the Caps have slightly more than $5.5M in cap space. If Green is removed from LTIR and counting Aucoin on the active roster, the cap space remaining using Poti LTIR cap space is approximately $344,000. My understanding is that there has been no cap space banked this season since Poti has been on LTIR the entire season to date.

As of now Backstrom is on IR not on LTIR. If Backstrom is put on LTIR, any trades (and call-ups) made which use some of that LTIR cap space will limit ability for Backstrom to return during the regular season. Given current lack of updates, assume it is possible they will use his LTIR space, but possible they don’t if they need to leave the room for #19 to return during the regular season. If Backstrom is put on LTIR, his cap hit of $6.7M will provide additional cap space room.

Post Trade Deadline

During the regular season, even post trade deadline, the cap maximum is still in effect. There is no cap restriction during the playoffs.

Post trade deadline, there is no active roster maximum; as long as a team stays within cap maximum rules, a team can carry more than 23 players on the active roster. There is a restriction on the number of recalls post trade deadline. Four allowed with exceptions for emergency recalls and after the AHL affiliate’s season is over.

Trade Deadline Coverage

Obviously twitter and other online coverage.

On TV on Monday, February 27, 8am-6pm eastern time (and more continuing into the evening): In Canada, TSN; In US, NHL Network showing TSN coverage from 8-6; for others, I assume online is your best source. For more information on the US NHLN coverage, puckthemedia blog entry

Links

TSN's TradeCentre page and TSN Trade List