Capitals Sign Justin Sourdif To Eight-Year Extension

Sourdif picked up 15 goals and 20 assists in 78 games last season, while spending the bulk of the campaign playing down the middle after spending a lot of time on the wing in the minors.  His 35 points tied him for eighth-most among rookies.  However, it should be noted that 26 of his points came in the final 40 games of the year as he finished strong.  Clearly, Patrick and the Capitals felt the second-half showing was a sign of things to come and wanted to get ahead of it now instead of risking a bigger contract with arbitration rights next summer.

There is definitely a risk/reward element to this deal given Sourdif’s inexperience.  If it turns out that the second-half performance was an outlier and that he’s more of a bottom-six piece moving forward, this contract could become problematic for them, even as the price of quality bottom-six players continues to rise quickly.  On the other hand, if Sourdif is able to build off that performance, this contract could become team-friendly relatively quickly, especially as contracts keep jumping along with a quicker-rising Upper Limit.

With today’s signings, the Capitals now have over $111MM in commitments for the 2027-28 season, per PuckPedia.  Notably, the cap ceiling for this year is $104MM and the forecasted increase for next season is $113.5MM, meaning that Washington is getting pretty close to maxing things out on next year’s spending already.  On other hand, all but three players are now locked up through next season.  The ones who aren’t are wingers Alex Ovechkin and Anthony Beauvillier, along with defenseman Justin Holl.