Henrik Lundqvist is a Washington Capital

The worst kept secret in hockey is fact, New York  Rangers immortal Henrik Lundqvist has signed with Washington

Get used to it folks.  Henrik Lundqvist will be wearing the red and white uniform of the Washington Capitals. He won’t be tormented by Alex Ovechkin one-timers from the left faceoff circle any longer, but will benefit from the Russian superstar’s goal scoring.   It didn’t take long, just a week after he was bought out by the New York Rangers.

The deal is reportedly for one year and will pay him $1.5 million plus performance bonuses.  Considering he is still getting paid by the Rangers, Lundqvist is doing just fine and the Caps get a bargain in the King.

The Capitals are not going to re-sign veteran Braden Holtby and are going with Russian netminder Ilya Samsonov as their number one netminder.   Samsonov played 26 games last season, his only experience in the NHL. He had a 16-6-2 won-lost record with a 2.55 Goals Against Average and a .913 Save Percentage.  Those numbers compare favorably to Lundqvist’s, but you have to believe that Washington has a better defense than the Rangers.

Samsonov didn’t see any action in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after reportedly sustaining neck and back injuries in an ATV accident in Russia.   The Capitals are confident that he will be ready for training camp, but if there are any continuing health issues, Lundqvist could end up seeing a lot of action.  At any rate, we’ll get an answer to the question that has dogged Ranger fans for the last few years.  Has Lundqvist lost his edge or was he the victim of a lousy defense?

In a minor transaction, the Rangers announced a contract extension for minor league defenseman Brandon Crawley who was a Restricted Free Agent.

The Lundqvist signing is the biggest of the day so far.  In other free agent transactions, Wayne Simmonds signed a one-year deal with Toronto and Bobby Ryan signed for one year with the Detroit Red Wings.   Ex-Ranger Cam Talbot signed a three year contract with Minnesota after winning the starting job in Calgary in their postseason.