Tomas Fleischmann, a restricted free agent this off-season, has received a qualifying offer from the Capitals, according to Tarik El-Bashir. The offer would give him a slight bump in salary over last season, but Fleischmann is understandably looking for more.
Both sides are working on a long-term agreement that would keep the 25 year old in Washington past 2011, but Fleischmann's agent says they're not close to an agreement at the moment. If they can't come to an agreement, he says he will pursue arbitration in order to come to an agreement on a better one-year contract.
Though Fleischmann's agent did not say when he believes a deal will be done, he did talk about how he believes Tomas can demonstrate his value better with more opportunities at center:
"It will be interesting to see what the Caps do with Flash next year. When he was scoring all those goals he was playing center. They may have their second line center right there. ...If they leave him at center and give him a couple of wingers, he'll adjust to those guys and he'll figure it out. He's got the right skillset to do it. It's just a question of getting some experience."