Marcus Johansson, Capitals meet in middle on 3-year deal

It’s always heartwarming when a player and his team avoid some bitter arbitration hearing and work things out beforehand, isn’t it?

Marcus Johansson wanted $5.25 million in arbitration. The Capitals were offering $3.85 million. On Wednesday, they agreed on a new three-year deal that pays the winger $13.75 million, or a $4.583 cap hit.

According to the team, Johansson will earn $4.25 million in 2016-17 and $4.75 million in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The man they call ‘MoJo’ scored 46 points (17 goals, 29 assists) in 74 games with the Capitals last season. He ranked tied for 11th in the NHL and second on the team in game-winning goals, for whatever that’s worth. Johansson ranked third among Capitals skaters in power-play goals, fifth in assists and sixth in points.

He didn’t have the best possession season (49.60 Corsi, 5v5 score adjusted) , but he’s been a good solider for years for the Capitals and clearly GM Brian MacLellan likes him.

What MacLellan didn’t like was the number that could have headed Johansson’s way in arbitration, and should be happy to have avoided that process to get him closer to where they wanted him in their cap structure.

“[Johansson] has decent stats that, you know, would favor a certain number, and we have a value that we put on him,” MacLellan said earlier this month, via the Washington Post. “It’s just coming together on that number.”

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.