NHL

He has spent the last two seasons in the AHL with Hershey, where he had 19 goals and 41 points in 66 games this past campaign. Potulny has 49 points in 126 career NHL appearances.

Alzner is scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer. "That would be weird," Alzner said of the possibility of accepting an offer sheet. "Like I said, I don't know anything but [Washington]. It would be strange." Washington will almost certainly re-sign Alzner, but the Capitals are close to the salary cap and that might make the process a little more difficult.

"Right now I can tell to work with him, it was probably one of the biggest reason to my success this year," Ovechkin said. He was still productive in his previous two seasons, but his star among the NHL's elite players had been waning a bit. After a sluggish start to the lockout-shortened season, he emerged as a top-tier player again while recording 32 goals and 56 points in 48 games.

He posted a 23-12-1 record, a 2.58 goals-against average, a .920 save percentage and four shutouts in 36 games. "If you're not improving every year, you're doing something wrong," said Holtby. "It was nice to get sort of a full season in, and every little experience can help if you use it the right way." He brought some stability to Washington's crease for the first time in a while and will likely be given the number one job again heading into next season.

He is a pending restricted free agent and is coming off his entry-level deal. He skated alongside Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom on Washington's top line for most of the season and coach Adam Oates praised Johansson's play down the stretch. He should get a nice bump in salary, but he'll probably have to prove himself further before he earns a substantial contract.

He made $1.27 million last season and carried a cap hit of $1,285,000. The steady, 24-year-old defenseman will no doubt be getting a raise and given his importance to the team it will probably be a long-term deal.

He can play left wing and center, take faceoffs, block shots, hit and work on the penalty kill. "I think I've established myself more in this league," Hendricks said. "Proved I can play throughout the lineup ' special teams, penalty kill, things like that. I'm pretty good at faceoffs. I think I'm just more of an established player at this level." Washington GM George McPhee praised Hendricks for his work, but it's unclear if the team wants to commit to the longer term deal that he is reportedly seeking. Hendricks hopes to be back with the Capitals though and several of his teammates want that to happen as well.