The Capitals took one more step towards completing their offseason overhaul by trading winger Eric Fehr to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday afternoon for a 2012 fourth-round draft pick and right wing prospect Danick Paquette.
Washington’s flurry of free-agent signings and trades over the past 10 days necessitated the move. Fehr was due to make $2.2 million in 2011-12. A roster that includes extra forwards Jay Beagle and D.J. King with Swedish forward Mattias Sjogren at fourth-line right wing – about as cheap a roster as Washington can ice next season – leaves them $505,128 over the NHL-mandated $64.3 million salary cap. And that’s before signing restricted free agent Karl Alzner, one of the team’s top young defensemen.
“We have a surplus of right wingers and we decided to move one to build upon our draft pick stock for the 2012 draft,” Caps general manager George McPhee said in a statement. “We also added a gritty prospect in Danick Paquette to our organization. Eric Fehr is a first class person. We thank him for his contributions to the Washington Capitals and wish him well.”
NHL teams can exceed the salary cap over the summer by 10% so McPhee can sign Alzner this month and use the time remaining before regular-season rosters are set to wiggle under the cap. McPhee has said several times that defenseman Tom Poti’s career is in jeopardy thanks to a serious groin injury. Poti will have a cap hit of $2.875 million the next two seasons. If he has to go on long-term injured reserve then that money will come off the cap.
Fehr is a Winkler, Manitoba native and returns to the home province team. The original Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix when Fehr was 10 years old. But the Jets are back in the NHL this season after True North Sports & Entertainment bought the Atlanta Thrashers franchise in May and moved the club to Manitoba.
“It’s just so hard to believe that I’m going to be in Winnipeg,” Fehr said during a conference call with reporters. “With the whole team coming back now, family and friends are so happy I’m going to come play in Winnipeg…my world’s kind of been flipped upside down right now. It’s crazy and exciting. It’s going to be a pretty whirlwind summer.”
Fehr, 25, was drafted by the Caps in 2003. He helped coach Bruce Boudreau win a Calder Cup for AHL Hershey in 2005-06. His best season in Washington was a 21-goal, 18-assist campaign in 2009-10. In all, Fehr had 46 goals and 47 assists in 230 NHL games with Washington. He played parts of six seasons with the Caps, though injuries have kept him to a single-season high 69 games.
Fehr had double shoulder surgery two summers ago and underwent another surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. That injury occurred during a collision with teammate David Steckel in a Jan. 14 game with Vancouver. But Fehr said Friday he doubts he’ll be ready for training camp in September.
“I think it’ll be a little bit longer. This is something I got to be real careful with,” Fehr said. “I got to make sure it heals proper and I don’t rush back because when I come back I want to be back for good and I want to play every game after that the rest of the year. So my goal is to make sure I’m 100 percent ready before I get back on the ice.”
Follow me on Twitter @bmcnally14
