Capitals sign former first-round pick to five-year extension

The Capitals have re-signed pending RFA defenseman Rasmus Sandin to a five-year extension, the team announced Wednesday. His contract carries an average annual value and cap hit of $4.6M, earning him $23M over the life of the deal. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first to report Washington and Sandin were nearing an extension.

Sandin, 23, would have been eligible for salary arbitration if he reached restricted free agency this summer. He’ll be a UFA at the end of his new deal, which expires after the 2028-29 season.

The 2018 first-round pick has logged major minutes for Washington since they acquired him from the Maple Leafs for Erik Gustafsson and a first-round pick before last season’s trade deadline. With Martin Fehérváry missing a significant chunk of the season with injuries, Sandin has often slid into a top-pairing role alongside John Carlson and is averaging a career-high 21:19 per game.

That pairing has struggled defensively, conceding 2.97 expected goals against per 60 minutes, according to MoneyPuck. He’s fared considerably better in slightly less usage alongside Trevor van Riemsdyk, who have a 50.4% expected goals share (and only 2.19 expected goals against per 60 minutes) when paired together.

His production is down slightly from last year’s seven-goal, 35-point campaign, but he still has a respectable 20 points in 52 games and has plenty of room to grow as he enters his mid-20s. Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic pegs the deal as an immediate slight overpay but a long-term bargain, with Sandin’s average market value projected at $5.3M per season over the contract’s duration.

The contract does not include any trade protection, per CapFriendly. $7M of the $23M total, approximately 30%, will be paid in signing bonuses.

Washington has its blue line set for next season with only Joel Edmundson on an expiring contract. If he’s not dealt by Friday’s trade deadline, he’s unlikely to be re-signed. Carlson, Fehérváry, van Riemsdyk, Alexander Alexeyev, Ethan Bear and Nick Jensen are all signed to one-way deals through next season, giving the Caps a full complement of seven defensemen.

However, the signing does leave Washington in a cap crunch that GM Brian MacLellan will need to get creative to navigate. With pay bumps for Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson kicking in next season, the Capitals are down to $4.17M in projected cap space with a roster size of 16, per CapFriendly. That figure accounts for buried center Evgeny Kuznetsov, whose cap hit is reduced slightly to $6.65M while on assignment to AHL Hershey.

Sandin was in the final season of a two-year, $2.8M deal he signed after holding out for most of the 2022 offseason.