Washington Capitals Free Agent Tracker: Qualifying Offers made to 9 Caps

Written by Krafty.

Qualifying Offers were made to all nine of the Washington Capitals restricted free agents today, including Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleishmann, and Jeff Schultz. These players have until July 15th to accept or decline the Caps' offer, however starting tomorrow they can receive offers from other teams in the league. In making each player an offer, Washington retains the players' rights and would have the opportunity to match any other bid they receive. If one of the RFA's were to sign with another team, the Caps would be rewarded with draft picks.

As it was noted earlier in the week, the NHL's salary cap for the 2010-2011 season was increased 5% to $59.4M with a minimum of $43.4M. The Capitals currently sit just shy of $47M, allowing them approximately $12.4M of negotiation room to tackle other teams' unrestricted free agents, make offers to current players, and combat any player that is awarded their arbitration increase.

Make the jump to take a look at the rest of the Capitals' free agent class as we inch closer to free agent signing period.

Name	Pos	Age		Cap Hit	Latest Update	Information
Nicklas Backstrom	C	22	RFA	$6.0M	05/17/10	Signed to a 10-year, $67M deal
Jay Beagle	R	23	RFA	$77K	06/28/10	Qualifying offer extended.
Eric Belanger	C	31	UFA	$1.75M	06/08/10	Interested in a 3 year deal. Also interested in signing with the Montreal Canadiens.
					06/15/10	Recent contract discussions reported.
					06/29/10	Interested in a 3 or 4 year deal. Caps not interested in that long of a deal
Chris Bourque	C	23	RFA	$6K	06/23/10	Reportedly signed with the KHL's Alant.
					06/25/10	Told Doug Yingst signing with Alant is something he's contemplating, but currently "premature."
					06/28/10	Qualifying offer extended.
Joe Corvo	D	33	UFA	$2.625M	06/03/10	Will not be re-signed.
Eric Fehr	R	23	RFA	$772K	06/08/10	Discussing a multi-year option with the Caps.
					06/28/10	Qualifying offer extended.
Tomas Fleischmann	C	25	RFA	$725K	06/21/10	In talks with the Caps, Flash is interested in a ~ $2.75M contract
					06/28/10	Qualifying offer extended.
Andrew Gordon	R	23	RFA	$9K	06/28/10	Qualifying offer extended.
Boyd Gordon	R	26	RFA	$761K	06/28/10	Qualifying offer extended.
Milan Jurcina	D	26	UFA	$1.375M	06/22/10	Will not be re-signed.
Quintin Laing	L	30	UFA	$500K
Patrick McNeill	D	23	RFA	$6K	06/28/2010	Qualifying offer extended.
Zach Miskovic	R	25	RFA	$5K	06/25/2010	Qualifying offer extended.
Brendan Morrison	C	33	UFA	$1.5M	06/14/10	Will not be re-signed.
Shaone Morrisonn	D	26	UFA	$1.975M	06/15/10	In talks with the Capitals to be re-signed.
					06/19/10	No contract negotiations have been made.
Jeff Schultz	D	23	RFA	$715K	06/28/10	Qualifying offer extended.
Jose Thedore	G	32	UFA	$4.5M	06/08/10	No discussions regarding an extension.
					06/23/10	Will not be re-signed.
Scott Walker	R	36	UFA	$2.5M	06/03/10	Will not be re-signed.

Current estimation of money saved available to be put towards the cap: $12.4M