Carlson contract may begin busy stretch for Capitals

The re-signing of defenseman John Carlson to an eight-year, $64 million contract Sunday kicked off what is likely to be a busy week for the Washington Capitals.
Bringing back Carlson, who could have become an unrestricted free agent July 1, was general manager Brian MacLellan's top priority heading into the offseason, but he has more business to take care of, including hiring a new coach to succeed Barry Trotz.

Trotz resigned June 18 after coaching the Capitals to the first Stanley Cup championship in their 43-season history and was hired by the New York Islanders on Thursday.
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MacLellan said Thursday that he plans to interview associate coach Todd Reirden this week and that the job is Reirden's to lose.
"If it goes well, he's a likely candidate," MacLellan said. "And if not, we can open it and try to find another guy."
A decision on Reirden, who turns 47 on Monday, is likely to come shortly after his interview. While MacLellan is handling that, he'll continue to work on re-signing defenseman Michal Kempny, who can become an unrestricted free agent July 1.
Kempny fit well playing alongside Carlson on the Capitals' second defense pair after being acquired in a trade from the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 19. The 27-year-old thrived playing under Reirden, whose primary responsibility under Trotz was to run the defense. Kempny went from averaging 15:19 of ice time over 31 games with Chicago to 16:45 over 22 regular-season games and 17:42 in 24 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with Washington.
"He seems to really like it, and we're going to try to work it out here over the next couple weeks," MacLellan said.

MacLellan also placed a priority on re-signing forward Tom Wilson, who can become a restricted free agent July 1 and is eligible to file for salary arbitration. The 24-year-old is coming off a two-year, $4 million contract ($2 million average annual value) and set NHL career highs with 14 goals, 21 assists and 35 points this season playing on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov.
After trading defenseman Brooks Orpik and goaltender Philipp Grubauer to the Colorado Avalanche on Friday for the No. 47 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, MacLellan said the Capitals were about $21 million under the $79.5 million NHL salary cap for next season. Carlson's contract leaves them with about $13 million in salary cap space to fit in Kempny, Wilson and whoever else they'd like to bring back or add.
MacLellan has to make decisions about re-signing potential unrestricted free agent defenseman Jakub Jerabek and forwards Jay Beagle and Alex Chiasson, and potential restricted free agent forward Devante Smith-Pelly, who is eligible to file for salary arbitration. Smith-Pelly was one of the Capitals' playoff heroes with seven goals (equaling his regular-season total), including three in five games in the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights.
With 10 seasons in Washington, Beagle, 32, has the third-longest tenure among Capitals players behind Ovechkin (13 seasons) and Nicklas Backstrom (11). Beagle said June 13 that he'd be willing to wait until MacLellan is finished with other business to negotiate his next contract, even if that extends beyond July 1.