Rasmus Sandin is sticking around with the Washington Capitals for a while after re-signing Wednesday on a five-year contract worth $23 million.
Sandin will count $4.6 million against the salary cap through the 2028-29 NHL season as part of the new deal.
Set to be a restricted free agent this summer with the potential for arbitration, Sandin has rounded out his game since joining the Capitals a year ago from Toronto in a trade deadline deal that cost them a first-round draft pick. That price has proven to be worth it, as Sandin has averaged more than 21 minutes of ice time and has 20 points in 52 games this season.
“It all started really a year ago when I got here,” Sandin told reporters after the team’s practice in Arlington, Virginia. “It really felt like the organization really believed in me, and I love this organization and just living here. Very excited to get that extension.”
The Swede, who turns 24 on Thursday, will now be part of Washington’s blue line of the future along with franchise cornerstone John Carlson and young Slovak Martin Fehervary. Forward Aliaksei Protas also recently was extended through 2029, and only winger Tom Wilson — whose seven-year contract through 2031 begins next season — is signed for longer.
Re-signing Sandin comes on the heels of the Capitals trading Anthony Mantha to the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2024 second-round and a 2026 fourth-round pick. They also could make moves involving fellow pending free agents Joel Edmundson, Max Pacioretty and Nicolas Aube-Kubel and are receiving calls about valuable fourth-line center Nic Dowd.
“It can be a tough time,” Edmundson said Tuesday. “It can wear you down if you keep thinking about what could happen, so we’re just trying to keep things light at the rink and take everyone’s mind off it. This comes around every year, it can be a stressful time for a lot of guys, but it’s part of the business.”
For his part, Aube-Kubel — who helped Colorado win it all in 2022 and famously dented the Stanley Cup by dropping it on the ice during the postgame celebration — said he doesn’t think about trade possibilities.
“I think it just brings anxiety and stress, which I’m against,” Aube-Kubel said. “Just try to stay as Zen as possible.”
General manager Brian MacLellan has said he would like to add young players to the mix even while selling, similar to the trade he made with the Maple Leafs for Sandin. Getting high picks and flipping them could still happen before the deadline Friday.
“That would be ideal,” MacLellan said last week. “That would be the type of thing we’re looking to do, yes.”
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