After all of the players that the Washington Capitals have acquired within the last few weeks, they were over the salary cap and in dire need of relief. The Caps got some Friday.
The Caps traded forward Eric Fehr to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for prospect Danick Paquette and a 2012 fourth-round draft pick in the 2012 NHL Draft.
Fehr had 10 goals and 10 assists in 52 games in an injury-plagued 2010-11 season. The 25-year-old forward is coming off his second shoulder surgery in three summers and his status for the beginning of the 2011-12 season is uncertain.
Paquette, a 20-year-old prospect, had 20 points in 59 games with the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL. He was the 64th overall pick of the Atlanta Thrashers - who have since become the Jets - in the 2008 NHL Draft.
Within the past two weeks, the Caps have acquired Troy Brouwer, Jeff Halpern, Joel Ward, Roman Hamrlik and Tomas Vokoun. Meanwhile, Fehr joins Boyd Gordon, Matt Bradley, Marco Sturm and Jason Arnott as former Caps that have found new homes this summer.
Fehr's departure takes $2.2 million off of the Caps' salary cap and leaves them with $394,872 of space. Defenseman Karl Alzner is the only restricted free agent that Washington has left to sign.