A pair of Caps signings were announced today: Brooks Laich has signed a three-year contract worth $2.067 million per year and Sergei Fedorov has signed a one-year, $4 million dollar deal.

While each signing makes sense in terms of the fairness of the dollar value, the additional 6.067 million dollars in salary cap space puts Washington in a salary cap crunch situation: according to nhlnumbers.com, the Capitals are now just $1.18 million below next season’s $56.7 million cap - and Shaone Morrisonn, Eric Fehr and Boyd Gordon are all without contracts for the 2008-09 season.

Obviously there’s no way Morrisonn, Fehr and Gordon will all fit under the salary cap given the team’s current salary structure. In fact, as is it’d be unrealistic to expect to even get Morrisonn alone re-signed without exceeding the cap.

The wild card in this situation is Brian Pothier, who is still recovering from a serious concussion suffered as the result of a body check by Boston’s Milan Lucic. According to George McPhee, Pothier is expected to start new season on the long-term injury reserve list, which would prevent his salary from counting against the salary cap as long as he was physically unable to play. If Pothier is unable to play at all next season the team will find itself with an additional $2.5 million in salary cap space. Under these circumstances, the Capitals would have approximately $3.7 million in cap space to devote towards signing their remaining restricted free agents. Even then it may still be a tight squeeze for the team. Just how close a squeeze depends on what kind of contract Morrisonn ends up signing or being awarded, should he wind up going to arbitration.

What makes the most sense for the Capitals to do at this point is to make an effort to get Morrisonn under contract for $2 million or less, which would probably still afford the team enough cap space to re-sign both Gordon and Fehr. Should they be unable to come to an agreement with Morrisonn, the team would be best served to take a “wait and see” approach and wait until Morrisonn’s July 24th arbitration hearing, determine what impact his salary for next season has on their plans and move forward from that point.

If Morrisonn’s arbitration decision makes it infeasible to re-sign both former first round draft picks, it is most likely Boyd Gordon will be the odd man out. The signing of Fedorov means that the Capitals already have three top-flight centers (Nicklas Backstrom and Michael Nylander being the others). That, plus the fact that the Capitals have a effective checking line center and penalty killer already under contract for next season in David Steckel, suggest Gordon would struggle to find much playing time on the team. Additionally Fehr is two years younger, has more offensive upside, is a more physical presence and plays what is arguably the forward position with the least depth for the Capitals.

Should the team still find itself in salary cap trouble if Gordon is dropped, or if McPhee and his staff decide they want to keep both Gordon and Fehr, it is possible a veteran could be waived or bought out to free up space, with John Erskine being the player most likely to be deemed expendable. It is also possible the Capitals could become involved in the trade market, but most of the Caps young talent is going to be off limits and most of the team’s veterans are worth more than what they would bring in via a trade. Thus if any trade were going to occur, it would likely be of the rights to either Fehr or Gordon.

Despite warnings that he might not be terribly active at the deadline Capitals general manager George McPhee made three trades this afternoon, while still holding keeping his word that he wouldn’t give up too much in the way of players or picks.

As a primer, here’s an breakdown of the changes the Capitals made:

Acquired:
Matt Cooke
Sergei Fedorov
Cristobal Huet

Shipped Out:
2009 2nd round draft pick
Matt Pettinger
Rights to Ted Ruth

At face value, the Capitals look much improved. But are these moves really going to help the team as much as it seems like they should on paper? To answer, let’s take a look at each trade individually.

A 2nd round draft pick in 2009 to the Montreal Canadiens for Cristobal Huet

Initial Reaction: Wow. Shocking for a few reasons: Huet wasn’t supposed to be moved, the Caps are apparently willing to spell Olaf Kolzig as their starting goalie, and it’s odd that Huet was had for only a second round pick.

Pros
(1) Cristobal Huet is a good goalie. Really good. Like top ten in the NHL good.
(2) Huet’s save percentage is .916
(3) Olaf Kolzig’s save percentage is .888
(4) Brent Johnson’s save percentage is .908
(5) Acquiring Huet now gives the Caps a chance to show off their young talented core to him and gives them the jump on negotiating a contract with the free-agent-to-be.
(6) He only cost a second round pick.
(7) Coming from le bleu, blanc et rouge of Montreal, Huet’s pads already match the Capitals’ uniforms.

Cons
(1) Huet is still a free agent come July 1.
(2) How will Kolzig handle his demotion?
(3) Kolzig deserved better. I’m not saying the Capitals shouldn’t have made this trade, but it is unfortunate for Olie the way this season has played out.

Grade: A. The Capitals addressed their biggest weakness even if it meant possibly offending a portion of their fan base, picked up a very good player and have a chance to build with this move if they can re-sign Huet. No other goalie nearly this good was available and it only cost the Capitals a second round pick.

The rights to Ted Ruth for Sergei Fedorov

Intial Reaction: Again a surprise. Not that Fedorov was moved, but that the Capitals were able to pick him up. Who’s Ted Ruth?

Pros
(1) Fedorov is an offensively skilled center who can hopefully fill Michael Nylander’s shoes.
(2) Ted Ruth is far from a blue-chip prospect.
(3) Fedorov seems a good fit for the Capitals second line since he’s historically a good defensive center, gives Alexander Semin a Russian countryman to work with and has undeniable offensive talent.
(4) Fedorov has played 1178 NHL games, 162 NHL playoff games and won three Stanley Cups. That’s the kind of veteran presence you want when you’re making a playoff push.
(5) Fedorov’s contract expires after this season.

Cons
(1) Fedorov has become too lazy too often in recent years.

Grade: A-. Fedorov is a great pick up for the Capitals second line because he not only has offensive skill but because he is a two-time Selke winner who speaks Semin’s language (literally).

Matt Pettinger for Matt Cooke

Initial Reaction: A fair trade and a solid pickup for a player (Pettinger) who needed a change of scenery.

Pros
(1) Matt Cooke is a solid defensive player.
(2) Pettinger couldn’t seem to get things going in D.C. this year, so maybe a new locale will help.
(3) Cooke provides grit and agitation skills, something the Caps could use a little more of.

Cons
(1) Pettinger has more offensive upside than Cooke.
(2) At 27, Pettinger is two years younger than Cooke.

Grade: B. Simply a good, fair trade that will probably benefit both teams in the end.

Aggregate Grade: B+ A-*. To me, these trades are even better than they initially look because each player has some advantage beyond their playing skill: that the Caps can start negotiations with Huet for the future earlier than anyone else, Fedorov’s experience and potential to mesh well with Semin and Cooke’s agitation tendencies. The Capitals filled two of their biggest holes with the acquisition of Fedorov and Huet and didn’t give up a whole lot doing it and for the trades that were made I’d give them an A/A-. However there were two notables non moves: the failure to trade for a big, mean stay-at-home defenseman and the decision to hold on to Steve Eminger. Perhaps they were the best decisions because perhaps the Capitals couldn’t get a stay-at-home defender for what they were willing to give up and perhaps they didn’t get any decent offers for Eminger. But those non-moves keep this deadline from being a complete success…although the team came much closer than anyone could have expected.

*Okay, Mark, you convinced me!