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It is almost time for NHL free agency to begin, and the Capitals certainly have needs to fill and a limited budget. Who would be the best fit? Who would be the best free agent target for Washington to pursue? That’s what NBC Sports Washington wants to find out!

Our experts got together and made a bracket of the 16 best free agent fits. The bracket is divided into four regions: Third line forward, fourth line forward, depth defenseman and Caps’ free agent. Now we want you to tell us who you want to see rocking the red next year!

Every weekday we will match two free agents up against one another and present a case for each player. Then you get to vote and decide who advances!

Check out today’s matchup:

Region: Third line forward

Marcus Johansson vs. Joonas Donskoi

2018-19 stats

Marcus Johansson (28 years old): 58 games played with the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins, 13 goals, 17 assists, 30 points, 15:55 TOI

Playoffs: 21 games played with the Boston Bruins, 4 goals, 7 assists, 11 points, 13:51 TOI

Joonas Donskoi (27 years old): 80 games played for the San Jose Sharks, 14 goals, 23 assists, 37 points, 13:25 TOI

Playoffs: 12 games played for the San  Jose Sharks, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points, 12:26 TOI

Hockey-Graphs contract projections

Marcus Johansson: 4 years, $4,661,000

Joonas Donskoi: 3 years, $2,847,521 cap hit

The case for Marcus Johansson

You guys watching the playoffs right now? Because Johansson has been fantastic with the Bruins and is a big reason they sit one win away from the Stanley Cup.

The stats with New Jersey are not great, but the last four seasons he was in Washington, he recorded over 40 points. There is an obvious fit there. In 2016-17, he tallied 58 with 24 goals and 34 assists. He has also rebounded tremendously from his time with the Devils, so it is definitely fair to think he can produce at a high level if he returns to Washington.

The Caps at times asked too much of Johansson, but that is not the Washington would be asking him to play this time. He would be a third-line player, maybe second line if the team is looking for a speed line with Jakub Vrana on the other wing. It would be similar to the role Boston has for him now in which he is thriving.

Donskoi has good skill, but that has earned him career-highs of 14 goals and 37 points, both of which he scored last season so the Caps could end up paying a bit more than they should to obtain him.

Concerned about Johansson’s durability? Well Donskoi is no ironman. In his four NHL seasons, he only managed 80 games once. In two seasons he played in fewer than 70 games so you cannot simply say Donskoi is a more durable option.

Johansson has shown this postseason that he has plenty more to give a team if given the right role and the right fit. He would have both in Washington.

The case for Joonas Donskoi

Yes, Johansson has had a strong postseason and every knows it, including other NHL GMs. His strong play has been on full display for everyone to see. That’s bad news for a cash-strapped Washington team that has very little cap room to work with and cannot afford to get into a bidding war with anyone. That $4.661 million he is projected to make? That projection is from May, before the Stanley Cup Final, and even then, it seemed lower than I would have expected. It won’t take much for Johansson’s price tag to go higher than what Washington can afford to match.

Donskoi will be a much cheaper option. His stats don’t match what Johansson did in Washington, but there is no guarantee Johansson steps back into the Caps lineup and begins producing 40 to 50 points again. If you can expect the same level of production from both players, then you should take the cheaper option.

Donskoi made the offense better in San Jose in whatever role he was asked to play, and he is a much more realistic target for the Caps over the soon to be too expensive Johansson.

Who’s your pick? Vote here:

Day one of our Free Agency Bracket pins Marcus Johansson against Joonas Donskoi. Who should the Caps go after?

🔄 for MoJo
❤️ for Donskoi pic.twitter.com/rOu8fudhS4

— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) June 10, 2019

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With less than a month before training camp opens in mid-September, we are taking one last look back at the 2018-19 season as we dive into the best goals of last year. We compiled our bracket based on the cumulative rankings of our Capitals team, from reporters to producers and everyone in between, and now is your turn to help us determine the best Capitals goal of 2018-19. Below is a Slack conversation between the members of our Capitals content team. 

jmurph: Another day, another matchup in our Goal of the Year bracket. Today we’ve got Kuzy’s sweet hands against Jakub Vrana turning defense to offense. Who wants to lead us off?

Rob Carlin: Love the Vrana goal. Love everything about it. Great stick lift & steal, finished like a goal scorer — and got the face wash from Ovi. Love it. But Kuzy was magical. Vrana is like Strasburg — dominant 7 innings but doesn’t get a decision.

jmurph: The face wash isn't the best part of the goal, but it's definitely my favorite part.

timmcdonough: I’m with Rob... these are two sweet stick-handling displays, but Kuznetsov makes it looks soooo easy. I lost count of the dekes in there, then to pull it around the goalie and in the net, like the puck was Velcro’d to his stick.

bmcnally: The hard work that went into the Vrana goal was so impressive. Never gave up on the play. That was a beauty. But I agree with Rob. It looked like Kuznetsov put a spell on the Ducks goalie there. To do that near full speed and end up deking him that bad is ridiculous.

Rob Carlin: And it wasn’t a quick face wash. Ovi stayed with it.

jmurph: Not to mention, Kuzy helped turn the puck over in the neutral zone before rampaging down the wing. I could watch the replay of that goal on repeat and never get tired of it.

Rob Carlin: Didn’t Vrana take a tough loss earlier in this bracket? He’s turning into Gonzaga. High hopes but gut-punching losses.

bmcnally: Ryan Miller must still wake up at night this summer in a cold sweat thinking about what Kuznetsov did there. It's like he was hypnotized. We won't talk about how that game against the Ducks ended, but it's so, so good.

timmcdonough: I’m already looking ahead to round 2, which is always dangerous, but we’re gonna have some ridiculous matchups...

jmurph: Hopefully we can find a Vrana goal to sneak in there because he definitely deserves a shout. He scored some beauties last year and is having some terrible luck on these draws.

Which goal advances to Round 2?

— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) August 26, 2019

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Capitals’ fans collective hearts stopped when Alex Alexeyev suffered a knee injury in March. He had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher after taking a serious knee-on-knee hit that raised legitimate concerns as to whether he would be ready for the 2019-20 season.

It took just five months for Alexeyev to go from being stretchered off the ice to skating with the best prospects in the world.

Alexeyev took part in the National Hockey League Players’ Association rookie showcase on Sunday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. The event is held primarily to give the NHL’s trading card partner, Upper Deck, the chance to capture pictures and videos of top prospects in NHL uniforms.

“Supposed to be day off but whatever I guess,” Alexeyev said, though jokingly. He quickly added, “I took a couple pictures. It's fun actually. I'm really happy.”

Among the players who attended were 2019 No. 1 overall pick, Jack Hughes, his brother Quinn, Adam Fox, Dylan Cozens, and Alexeyev.

After Sunday it is safe to say that fears over Alexeyev’s knee can officially be laid to rest. He had been participating in informal skates with the Caps prior to that and he also took part in a slow-paced scrimmage with the other prospects at the end of Sunday’s event. He even scored the first goal as he found himself alone in the slot and fired the puck past Dallas Stars prospect Jake Oettinger. He finished the scrimmage with two goals.

“Amazing,” Alexeyev said of his knee when asked how it felt. “One-hundred percent.”

He also said there would be no limitations heading into training camp.

With confirmation that he is healthy, the question now is what comes next for one of the top prospects in the organization?

Alexeyev will turn 20 in November and will move on from the WHL to the professional ranks. Washington's roster is pretty crowded at the blue line, but Alexeyev is determined to compete for a spot in the NHL this year.

“I set up goals for me to make the team but you know, anything could happen,” he said. “So if I even get in Hershey I will be there and I want to be the best there.”

Alexeyev is a skilled defensemen at both ends of the ice. Though he is no John Carlson in terms of his offensive upside, he has a good shot and is a skilled stick-handler. He has good size, mobility and is good on the breakout. In terms of potential, he is seen as a top-four, perhaps even top-pair caliber player.

But it will still take time to get there.

The good news is that, despite being Russian, he will not be adjusting to the North American game for the first time. Alexeyev has spent the last three seasons playing for the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL. Adjusting to the different rink size is not something he will face in his first-year pro. The physicality of the game, however, is a different story.

“Their hockey a lot like more hitting and a lot harder,” he said of the AHL. “So it's going to be like one year probably to adjust to this type of hockey and I think I will be good.”

But Alexeyev remains hopeful that he will adjust and have an impact at the NHL level sooner rather than later. Even when surrounded by some of the top prospects in the world, he did not lack for confidence.

When asked if he felt he belonged when skating with those players, Alexeyev got a big smile on his face and answered simply, “Yeah.”

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