After losing two young players to waivers, the Washington Capitals made their first move to try and get some of that organizational depth back by signing former Anaheim Ducks forward Sonny Milano. Milano officially signed his contract on Sunday morning and immediately went on waivers. The Capitals hope they can sneak him down to AHL Hershey.
Milano, 26, has played seven seasons in the NHL and had a career year for the Ducks in 2021-22, posting 14 goals and 34 points in 66 games. He made up one of the most exciting lines in hockey with Trevor Zegras and Rickard Rakell.
Milano, though, could not earn a contract over the offseason. He was given a PTO by the Calgary Flames during training camp, but was ultimately not signed.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the man who broke Milano’s signing on Saturday night, spoke more about the deal in his 32 Thoughts Podcast published on Monday and revealed several new details.
Friedman said of the Milano signing:
The reason why I think he clears, and we’ll see if I’m right or wrong at 2 pm Eastern on Monday, is that they gave him a one-year deal. The way I understand this happened is, if you watched last week, Washington lost two players on waivers, Jonsson-Fjallby and Leason. One to Winnipeg and the other to Anaheim. So they needed bodies. I actually heard the agent had reached out to the Capitals and said, ‘Look you’re down two, what do you think here?’ And the Capitals thought it was a good idea.
So they gave him a one-way contract, which means for those of you who aren’t familiar, he gets the same salary in the NHL or the AHL: $750k. And for those of you who aren’t familiar with this, you’re on me about this all the time, very probably, not everybody knows what these things are. A two-way deal means you get one salary in the NHL and another salary in the AHL. The one-way means he gets the same number, $750k, no matter where he plays, and I think that’s going to scare some teams off. There aren’t going to be many teams that are going to say, ‘We want Sonny Milano making $750k in the American Hockey League’ if he had gotten himself to this point where he didn’t have a set contract. So I think Washington made a smart play here and that’s why I think he’s going to clear. We’ll find out at 2pm Monday. We’ll see if I’m smart or it’s the latest example of my complete idiocy.
If Milano clears, he would be the joint highest-paid player on the Hershey Bears. His $750k salary would be the same that defenseman Bobby Nardella and forward Garrett Pilon earn. Both Nardella and Pilon are also on one-way contracts this season after signing two-year extensions with the organization in June 2021.
The Capitals opted to send Milano to the Bears because their 23-man roster is currently full and a stint in Hershey will give them valuable intel on if Sonny’s worthy of being in the NHL. With Evgeny Kuznetsov possibly out against the Canucks, the Capitals need Connor McMichael for depth at center and the team’s other two frequent scratches, Joe Snively and Matt Irwin, would have had to go on waivers to be taken off the roster.
“He was a good player last year,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said of Milano on Sunday. “If he clears, he’ll be assigned to Hershey to get going again playing hockey. He’s a real good young player and adds depth to our organization. It’s a good chance to add a good player to our organization.
“If he doesn’t get picked up, he’ll start in Hershey and he’ll go from there.”
Update 2PM: Sonny Milano cleared waivers.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
