The Capitals made a commitment to one of their core players with a contract extension as the team had decided to retain Nicklas Backstrom's services for five years and an annual cap hit of $9.2 million. Backstrom has been one of the faces of the franchise during the "Rock the Red" era, but unfortunately it comes with heavy toll as it means that the team cannot keep all their core players. That one core player is most likely to be goalie Braden Holtby.
Holtby has been having the worst season of his career as he is 25-14-6, with a .897 save percentage and a 3.11 goals allowed average in 48 games played. Head coach Todd Reirden seems to have been platooning between him and rookie sensation Ilya Samsonov, who has been playing great this season, and the more Samsonov plays, the more it seems like Holtby's days are coming to a close. It seems like a no brainer, but considering what Holtby has done in the past and that he is only 30 years old, it's not.
Holtby was a fourth round draft pick back in 2008 and made his debut during the 2010-11 season. It wasn't until 2012-13 when Holtby started getting a lot more playing time and in 2014-15 when he became a full fledged star for the Capitals. Holtby has been one of the best goalies in franchise history and also helped the team win their first Stanley Cup championship in 2017-18. He has meant a lot to the Capitals.
However, Samsonov has been a phenom this season as in 22 games started in 2019-20, he is 16-6-2 with a .913 save percentage and has a 2.55 goals allowed average. Samsonov was also a first round draft pick in 2015 and is a lot younger than Holtby. He is going to be the guy who replaces Holtby eventually, but he most certainly is pushing him.
Despite what the statistics say, the biggest problem here isn't Samsonov's rise and Holtby's struggles, it's money. Backstrom's contract extension, despite it saying a lot about what Backstrom has meant to the franchise over the years and it being a great deal of business, might make things financially difficult to keep Holtby as he is a free agent at the end of the season. Holtby might be a veteran goalie who has had great success, but sometimes difficult decisions are going to be made. This is one of them unless Holtby is willing to take a significant pay cut to stay with the team. Also, considering Alex Ovechkin will be looking to need a new contract after 2020-21 and rising star Jakub Vrana in the same boat, Holtby probably is expendable. So, with those contractual obligations to take care, that is where the performance does come in play. Samsonov is expected to become a star goalie for the Capitals and with how well he has played this season, the decision becomes easier. Unless Holtby is willing to take a massive pay cut, it's likely he will be playing somewhere else next season.
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