Now that the calendar has flipped over to June, the heavy lifting of the offseason will soon start to get underway for the Capitals and for the NHL. 

With the playoffs already more than halfway completed, here’s a look at some important days to monitor for the Capitals over the next two months: 

June 21st: NHL Awards 

While a handful of awards will be announced through the first week of June, the NHL will announce the winners of the: Norris, Vezina, Calder, Ted Lindsay, Hart, Masteron, Selke, Lady Byng, Jack Adams and King Clancy. The Capitals, however, do not have a finalist for any award. 

June 30th: Last Day for the Cup Final

The NHL season will complete, at the latest, by the last day in June. Could the Stanley Cup champion be the New York Rangers and come from the Capitals’ division? Time will tell. 

July 1st: Buy-out period begins

The Capitals don’t have any clear and obvious buy-out candidates, but if they decide to do so with a player, they can do so on the first day of July.  

July 7th: First round of the NHL Draft

The Capitals have the 20th overall selection in the first round of this year’s draft. 

July 8th: Rounds 2-7 of the NHL Draft

The Capitals have, as of June 1, five selections due this day. They own the: Jets’ second-round pick, their own third, own fifth, own sixth and own seventh-round selections.

July 11th: Deadline for qualifying offers

The deadline for the Capitals to extend qualifying offers to their restricted free agents. Unrestricted free agents are not eligible to be qualified. 

Capitals RFAs include: Goalie Ilya Samsonov, goalie Vitek Vanecek, forward Brett Leason, forward Beck Malenstyn, forward Damien Riat, defenseman Tobias Geisser and defenseman Lucas Johansen. 

Samsonov, Vanecek and Johansen are all arbitration-eligible. 

A brief explanation of qualifying offers can be found here. Should a player not be extended a qualifying offer by the Capitals, they will become an unrestricted free agent. If they do get extended an offer they may take the one-year deal, which is roughly the same amount as their previous year’s salary. The club also retains the rights of that particular player. 

July 13th: Free agency begins

The Capitals will have a bit of money to play with as free agency begins, and depending on what happens with Nicklas Backstrom and Carl Hagelin and their respective injuries, they could have some serious money to spend — if they haven’t already done so by way of a trade.

Capitals UFAs include: Forwards Marcus Johansson, Johan Larsson, Shane Gersich and Brian Pinho, defensemen Matt Irwin, Michal Kempny and Justin Schultz and goaltender Pheonix Copley.

July 27-August 11th: Salary arbitration hearings

Should any of the three listed above (Samsonov, Vanecek and Johansen) still be with the organization and either they or the Capitals elect for salary arbitration, it will happen between one of these dates. This is especially important for teams that spend up to the salary cap, considering the hearings happen at least two weeks after free agency begins.

Dates TBD: Capitals development camp

A look at some of the Capitals' youngest players in the organization at MedStar Capitals IcePlex.