After a splashy start to their offseason, the Washington Capitals kept busy on the first day of free agency, signing center Boone Jenner (four years at $5.75 million AAV) and defenseman Vincent Desharnais (4 x $4.2M) as well as depth players Jonny Brodzinski (1 x $850k), Justin Holl (1 x $900k), and Josh Dunne (1 x $850k).
The quintuplet of new contracts have a combined cap hit of $12.55 million, leaving the Capitals with a projected* $4.375 million of space and raising questions for some about Alex Ovechkin’s future.
“Just how active Chris Patrick and the Capitals have been, all indications are he’s not (returning),” insider Daren Dreger said Wednesday on TSN’s OverDrive.
On Wednesday night, however, general manager Chris Patrick told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski that Caps’ free agent signings wouldn’t affect their ability to sign Ovechkin.
“I think we can do something that would work for Alex based on conversations we had with him prior to him leaving,” Patrick said. “There are ways to get him the money that he needs because of his age and the kind of contracts you can do.”
Patrick added, “There are enough levers for us to pull. I think that we can do something that would work for him.”
Maybe the biggest lever available to the Capitals is performance bonuses, which could be the key to fitting Ovechkin under the cap.
*Exactly how much space the Capitals will have next season depends on which players ultimately make the team. This analysis uses PuckPedia’s projected roster as of July 1, which includes Brodzinski and Dunne but excludes Holl.
How do performance bonuses work?
The NHL CBA allows players who meet specific qualifications to receive performance bonuses, including a category that likely includes Ovechkin: players over 35 signing one-year deals.
Unlike player salary or signing bonuses, performance bonuses don’t necessarily count against the current season’s cap space. Instead, teams get a “Performance Bonus Cushion” equal to 7.5% of the salary cap ($7.8 million in 2026-27). If, at the end of the season, bonuses in that cushion would take teams over the cap, the remaining cost counts against the next season’s salary cap instead.
Washington has carried performance bonus overages in several recent seasons, perhaps most notably in the case of Max Pacioretty. A full half of Pacioretty’s $4 million compensation in 2023-24 came as performance bonuses, allowing the Capitals to fit him in under a tight cap; they ultimately incurred a $2,252,500 overage charge against the 2024-25 cap.
How does that help the Capitals?
While the Capitals are tight on space now, their cap problems are relatively-short term. The salary cap is set to increase by $9.5 million next summer, and — assuming Ovechkin won’t play in 2027-28 — they’ll have his salary off the books as well, giving them plenty of space to absorb any potential bonus overage.
As of July 1, the Capitals already have $3,602,500 in possible bonuses on the books for 2026-27, all for players on entry-level contracts: Ryan Leonard ($2 million), Cole Hutson ($1.5 million), and Ilya Protas ($102,500). That leaves $4,197,500 in bonuses left for Ovechkin before the team hits the 7.5% performance bonus cushion, nearly doubling his potential contract value.
Patrick highlighted Evgeni Malkin’s new contract when speaking to Wyshynski: the deal will cost $5.5 million against the cap in 2026-27 but carries $3.5 million in potential performance bonuses.
The bonus-heavy contract Mats Zuccarello signed with the LA Kings on Wednesday could also mirror the structure (if not price) of a potential Ovechkin deal. Zuccarello, 38, will make just $1 million in base salary, but he’ll earn a $5 million bonus if he reaches 10 games played, plus up to $500k depending on LA’s playoff performance.
How does that help Ovechkin?
Ovechkin has been clear about one thing: if he’s going to come back, he wants the Capitals to win.
“Obviously, if I want to come back, it has to be a decision. First of all, we’re going to make playoffs, and we have to fight for a Cup,” he said in April. “That’s probably the biggest thing.”
Match TV later reported that salary was a “secondary concern” to Ovechkin compared to the team’s ability to compete, and Patrick echoed that sentiment when speaking to reporters on Saturday.
“Alex is a really competitive person and he wants to win,” he said. “He definitely wanted to see what we did here in this offseason (to) help inform his decisions.”
Though Washington is now nearing the salary cap, the team has used that money to add serious firepower to its roster. The Caps traded for high-scoring wingers Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch, both of whom have proven capable of notching 30-goal seasons, and shored up their depth with Desharnais on defense and Jenner at center.
For Ovechkin, signing without performance bonuses would have meant either taking a big pay cut or preventing the team from building such a strong team around him.
Head coach Spencer Carbery told 106.7’s “Grant and Danny” last week that Ovechkin was pleased about the Tuch and Kyrou trades.
“He did mention and say today that he’s following and seeing the moves and was really happy for the organization about acquiring Jordan and Alex,” Carbery said then.
Now past the frenzy of the draft and free agency, Patrick told Wyshynski he and Ovechkin will soon reconvene to discuss his future.
“Now, I’m in a spot where I can give him a call here in the near future and we can talk,” Patrick said. “We’ve done the big moves for the NHL club. We can talk about where we’re at and where his head’s at and if he does come back, what the contract looks like. So, I’m hoping we can have those conversations in the near future.”
