Washington and Marcus Johansson are set to go to arbitration for the second year in a row and, on Monday, Sportsnet reported the price points for both player and club.
Johansson is asking for $5.25 million, per Elliotte Friedman, while the Caps have countered at $3.85M. This comes after last summer’s negotiation, in which the Swedish forward sought $4.75 million in arbitration while the Caps filed for $3M -- and, eventually, Johansson was awarded $3.75M.
The 25-year-old’s hearing is scheduled for July 20.
The situation at hand is tricky. Johansson has put together three very consistent scoring seasons, having notched 44, 47 and 46 points, and was a pretty decent producer in last year’s playoffs, racking up seven points in 12 games.
Washington, of course, is in a bit of a financial bind.
The club has roughly $8 million in cap space remaining, and needs to sign both Johansson and Russian blueliner Dmitry Orlov, who appears to be in line for a fairly healthy raise.