Some Help Has Arrived

The Washington Capitals are gaining popularity thanks to their superstar, Alexander Ovechkin, and now they want to gain entry into the playoffs. This off-season, they've made a few signings that will make a big difference to that push.

Alexander Semin	Michael Nylander	Alexander Ovechkin
Matt Pettinger	Viktor Kozlov	Chris Clark
Ben Clymer	Brian Sutherby *	Boyd Gordon
Brooks Laich *	Matt Bradley	Donald Brashear

Tom Poti	Brian Pothier
Steve Eminger *	Shaone Morrisonn
Milan Jurcina *	Mike Green *

Olaf Kolzig

Brent Johnson

As you can see, they are still a little ways from the playoffs still, as despite the new signings of Nylander and Kozlov, they are not very deep at any of the skating positions. Fortunately, they don't have much money spent on this line-up and they should still have tons of cash when they sign the five Restricted Free Agents listed. This line-up has less than $30 million set aside, which should leave a bit more shopping room, if they so wish to do so.

Also on the way, but hasn't earned a spot (yet), centre Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom, not to be confused with the Minnesota starter, is expected to be in camp this fall and should be a contender to make the squad. With the acquisiton of Nylander and Kozlov, however, could delay his arrival.

In goal, Olaf Kolzig did win 22 games last year and easily saw the most pucks per game than any goaltender in the NHL. At 37, he'll hopefully give the Caps another couple good seasons before the young Semen Varlamov makes the jump to the big leagues.


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