The Capitals have a one-year contract offer pending with free agent center Eric Belanger, according to a report in Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper Thursday.
Neither Washington general manager George McPhee — through a team spokesman — nor Belanger’s agent, Joseph Tacopina, would comment on a possible deal.
The Caps acquired the 32-year-old at the trade deadline March 3, and he floated between the second and third lines at center before becoming an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
While Belanger produced little offensively for the Caps — two goals and four assists in 17 games and just one assist in the playoff-series loss to Montreal — he was excellent in the faceoff circle at 56.4 percent overall. That percentage ranked ninth in the NHL. Belanger made $1.75 million last season.
On Wednesday he told Canadian-based French-language newspaper Le Soleil that he had been instructed by his new team not to say with whom he had signed while that team tried to complete a trade. With Belanger, Washington would have 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies with one open spot on the current 23-man roster.
