The Capitals get nearly $4 million bonus in salary cap space

This just in, Carolina Hurricanes forward Evgeny Kuznetsov has officially cleared unconditional waivers and has had his contract terminated. It's expected that he will sign a multi-year deal with the KHL's SKA St. Petersburg now, but officially he is an unrestricted free agent free to sign with any NHL team.

This means that the Hurricanes are now exempt from having to pay Kuznetsov's $3.9 million annual salary, but it ALSO means that the Washington Capitals are exempt from paying the same amount. You see, when the Capitals traded Kuznetsov to the Hurricanes they retained 50% of his $7.8 million cap hit. With his contract now terminated, neither team is responsible for the cap hit. 

So, in effect, the Capitals just received nearly $4 million in cap relief for essentially doing nothing. That's a very good day if you're an NHL team. Add that to the other moves the Capitals have made this offseason and you have to feel confident about this team moving into 2024-25.

In just the past month alone the team has added Pierre Luc Dubois, Andrew Mangiapane, Logan Thompson, Jakob Chychrun and Brandon Duhaime. Not bad... not bad at all.