ATTENTION TURNS TO FREE AGENTS

Today is the day -- July 1st! The NHL draft is over -- and attention has turned to the group of free agent players.

As to what, if anything, to expect from the Capitals, general manager George McPhee has issued a few recent signals.

First, he has expressed that he thinks that the current Capitals team is a good one – the team can get by fine as it is without any changes. His philosophy is, he said, “No deal is better than a bad deal.”

But he also said that the Capitals will pick up players if the right deal is there. "We're looking for the right player at the right price," he explained. "If it is not there, we will just pass." And he added, "Don't look for us to spend big money on anyone."

In discussing long-term deals, McPhee thinks that long-term deals can be made “as long as you do the right deal with the right player. And that's the key in the business now. We (Capitals) have options. We're not locked into too many long-term deals, which is nice. We will do long-term deals for the right people, but you have to have some options."

However, in a more recent statement, appearing on the Capitals website, McPhee is quoted as saying, “Don’t expect us to do big money deals or long-term deals. … We’ll be prudent, and we’ll see.” So it seems that long-term deals may not be a part of McPhee’s plan.

And as for the Capitals’ needs, McPhee also revealed, “At the forward position, if we could add some more talent or depth we would. On defense we’re fine. Goaltending, we’re fine.”

At the time of the NHL draft, McPhee opined that there are some teams that are “already committed to a lot of contracts and a lot of money and don’t have a lot of room to participate. There will be three or four teams as we have every summer that are desperate, and they’re going to spend a lot of money, but those teams – and it is getting to be less and less every year – this may be the start of some of the salary escalation leveling off.”

Where McPhee did express confidence was in the team’s Hershey Bears affiliate, winners of the 2009 Calder Cup. "We have, I believe, some guys who can come up and make our team on a full-time basis. That will be determined in training camp, obviously, but we've done a pretty good job there. ... We're fortunate to have the guys who could come up and contribute and help us win, so we'll keep leaning on Hershey and promoting the kids that are ready to go." Sphere: Related Content