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New York Islanders Metropolitan Division Free Agency Power Rankings

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 09: Leo Komarov #47 of the New York Islanders backs into Semyon Varlamov #1 of the Colorado Avalanche during the second period at the Barclays Center on February 09, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 09: Leo Komarov #47 of the New York Islanders backs into Semyon Varlamov #1 of the Colorado Avalanche during the second period at the Barclays Center on February 09, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – MARCH 23: Richard Panik #14 of the Arizona Coyotes skates in warm-ups prior to the game against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on March 23, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Coyotes 2-1 in the shoot-out. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – MARCH 23: Richard Panik #14 of the Arizona Coyotes skates in warm-ups prior to the game against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on March 23, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Coyotes 2-1 in the shoot-out. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Washington Capitals

Ins: Richard Panik, Garnet Hathaway, Brendan Leipsic
Outs: Brett Connolly

The Washington Capitals didn’t need to do much to their roster. The Metropolitan Division winners from last season are still a stacked team. They still have Alex Ovechkin, Nikolas Backstrom, and Evgeni Kusnetsov upfront.

On the back end, John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov still patrol the blueline and they have Braden Holtby between the pipes. They just needed to supplement what they had.

Forwards Garnet Hathaway and Brendan Leipsic are those moves. Both Hathaway and Leipsic give the Capitals some depth in their bottom-six. Hathaway scored 19 points for the Calgary Flames last season while Leipsic put in 23 for the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings.

They let 46 point winger Brett Connolly walk to the Florida Panthers on a four year deal with a $3.5 million AAV and brought in Richard Panik on a four-year deal with a $2.75 million AAV.

Panik is a year older than Connolly and two years removed from a career-high 44 points with the Chicago Blackhawks. Was saving $750,000 a year worth an arguably worse player for the Capitals?

Maybe they feel like with the deployment he’ll get, Panik can return to being that 40+ point player again.

On paper, the Capitals got a bit worse, but not by much. Hathaway and Leipsic don’t’ move the needle forward. But when you swap Brett Connolly for Richard Panik, the Washington Capitals got worse in free agency.

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