The Washington Capitals extended qualifying offers to Martin Fehervary, Riley Sutter, and Henrik Borgstrom before Friday’s 5 pm deadline. This means the team retains their rights moving forward.
Capitals opted to non-tender qualifying offers to Kody Clark and Gabriel Carlsson. They will become unrestricted free agents when free agency opens Saturday at noon.
#Caps have extended qualifying offers to defenseman Martin Fehervary and forwards Riley Sutter and Henrik Borgstrom. #Caps elect not to issue qualifying offers to defenseman Gabriel Carlsson and forward Kody Clark.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) June 30, 2023
Fehervary was the sole restricted free agent on the Capitals roster at season’s end. Fehervary himself revealed to Slovak outlet Nový Čas a few weeks ago that the Caps had sent him a qualifying offer. The two parties are still working on a contract extension.
Both Sutter and Borgstrom are just nine days removed from winning a Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears. Sutter starred on the Bears’ high-impact fourth line with Beck Malenstyn and Mason Morelli that won Game Three of the Finals with an overtime tally.
“As you know he’s had some injuries that were tough on him,” Caps assistant GM Ross Mahoney said of Sutter a few days ago. “I thought he had a really good year this year. The playoff games that I saw, that’s sort of the Riley Sutter that we drafted. Big body, was winning faceoffs, really good on the penalty kill, and obviously chipped in with a big goal in overtime. I was really happy for him. He looked like the guy that we drafted.”
Sutter was a third-round pick in 2018 and has yet to make his NHL debut — though that dream appears closer than its ever been of being achieved. Sutter worked under new Caps head coach Spencer Carbery in Hershey in his first two pro seasons.
Borgstrom plans to play in Sweden next year with HV71 but according to The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir, will have a clause in his contract allowing him to return to the NHL if he chooses. Borgstrom got into one game with the Caps at the NHL level last season. Borgstrom replaced an injured Mike Sgarbossa on Hershey’s first line during their Calder Cup championship run and scored the overtime winner in Game One of the Atlantic Division Finals.
Clark is a Caps 2018 second-round pick that missed the entirety of last season with chronic left quad tendon issue. Clark, the son of Wendel Clark, had a very unspectacular first three seasons as a pro, recording just 37 points (18g, 19a) in 113 AHL games with the Bears.
Carlsson was signed by the Caps to a one-year, two-way deal last July. He received a mid-season recall to the Caps and got into six games at the NHL level before returning to Hershey to help anchor the Bears’ first defense pairing on the way to a championship. The voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch, explained the probable reason why the Swedish defender was not retained.
“Carlsson was awesome for Hershey,” Fisch said. “A champ for life! However, believe he becomes a vet exempt player at AHL level which makes him tough to keep.”
The AHL has a rule where of the 18 skaters in a team’s gameday lineup, only six can be veterans who have played in 260 or more career professional games.
Headline photo: Ian Oland/RMNB
