Schultz and Fehr Sign in Washington

The Washington Capitals have another couple of signings to add to the board.  On Wednesday, the Capitals re-signed defenseman Jeff Schultz to a new 4-year deal, worth $11 million, which works out to be a $2.75 million cap hit per season.  On Thursday, the team announced that they have re-signed Eric Fehr to a new 2-year deal, worth $4.4 million, a $2.2 million cap hit each year.  In just two days, the Capitals cinched up nearly $5 million of cap space to two players for the next couple of seasons.

Schultz had a pretty good year for the Capitals, scoring 3 goals and adding 20 assists in 73 games, ranking him 74th among all defensemen, which should put him in a good spot for next year's fantasy draft.  He might not exactly be known for his offensive prowess, but playing on the Capitals will have some scoring benefits.

Fehr finally broke out a bit in the 2010 season, scoring 21 goals and adding 18 assists in 69 games with the club, which moved him into the top 200 in overall pool scoring.  It has taken five seasons for Fehr to really make a name for himself in Washington, but now I think all that hard work has definitely paid off for him and he would definitely make a suitable player for your team at a depth pick.

Forwards	Defense	Goalies
Alex Ovechkin	Mike Green	Semyon Varlamov
Alex Semin	Tom Poti	Michal Neuvirth
Brooks Laich	Jeff Schultz
Mike Knuble	John Erskine
Eric Fehr	John Carlson
Jason Chimera	Karl Alzner
Matt Bradley
David Steckel

Well, in adding the two new contracts to the table, I went to check out the Capitals situation in terms of buyouts and they have none to speak of right now, nor any penalties incurred, so they are in good shape that way. It also looks like both Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth both had their entry-level deals slide a few years ago as 19-year olds, which means that they both have one more year on their deals, making them the Capitals goaltending tandem on the cheap. That's totally my bad there.  So, with these new revelations, I can now safely report that the Capitals have 17 players signed on for the 2011 season, plus some prospects with a good chance of making the team, at an annual cap rate of $50.2 million.  Sprinkle on a couple depth players here and there and the Capitals should be good to make a good run next season.