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It’s a similar situation to what Latta faced during the season. He was initially the fourth-line center, but then the Capitals moved Johansson from wing to third-line center and signed unrestricted free agent Mike Richards. That moved Latta to the wing, a position he had to adjust to, but as the lineup got healthier, Latta was moved out of it and was scratched for most of the second half of the season.

For those reasons, of the Capitals’ restricted free agents, Latta faced the most uncertainty. He came to Washington as part of a trade with Nashville that shipped skilled forward Filip Forsberg to the Predators, and the news that the Capitals aren’t qualifying him comes on the same day that Forsberg signed a six-year, $36 million deal with Nashville. Latta could sign with the team in unrestricted free agency, but that he didn’t receive a relatively inexpensive qualifying offer of $632,500 doesn’t bode well.

Though Latta had the most productive season of his career, scoring three goals and four assists, a career-high of seven points in 43 games, he cracked the lineup just twice after the trade deadline and played in 10 fewer games than a season ago. He logged the most fights (eight) on the team, according to hockeyfights.com. When asked about Latta after the season, MacLellan said he wanted to see more dimensions from Latta.

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“I think he’s a great teammate, guys love having him around, coaches like him,” MacLellan said in May. “I think the key for him is he’s gotta bring something besides energy in that fourth-line role. He’s got to kill penalties; there’s got to be another dimension to his game for him to be successful in the league.”