With Nate Schmidt heading to Vegas in the expansion draft, the Caps have a hole in their top-four. While the Caps do have a small handful of defensive prospects who will likely see time in DC next season, it’s unlikely any of these guys are ready for a full-time role on a second pairing in the NHL. The Caps could also go the trade route, but if they were unwilling to pay Vegas their asking price to not select Schmidt, it’s unlikely the Caps will be willing to give up the assets required to bring in a top-four defender on the trade market.

That leaves targeting an unrestricted free agent as the most likely option the Caps will take to replace Schmidt. Finding the cap space to do this is going to be tricky, but as things stand now, I think the Caps could have $2-3 million to spend on the UFA market to bring in a defender.

Here’s a look at four pending UFAs who could fall into that price range and be adequate on a second defensive pairing.

For starters, the Caps are almost certainly going to want a left-handed shooting defenseman, so righties need not apply for our purposes here.

Michael Del Zotto

Age: 26

Projected cap hit: $2.98m

Player GP TOI/G Goals Assists SA% (relative) GF% (relative) Del Zotto 51 19:30 6 12 51.6 (+2.0) 48.9(+0.4)

Del Zotto missed over 30 games last season, mostly due to a knee injury at the start of the season. This is a bit of a pattern, as since the 2012-13 season, Del Zotto hasn’t appeared in more than 67 games in any season. But, these injuries and missed playing time will likely drive down the market on Del Zotto, so taking a gamble on his health may be worth the potential bargain should he manage to stay relatively healthy next season.

Del Zotto’s strengths are similar to Schmidt’s. He can skate really well and his passing game is also strong. As we saw with Schmidt, the ability to get the puck out of the zone with speed, whether through skating or passing, is a huge asset in today’s NHL.

Critics of Del Zotto’s game will often point to his defensive zone work as a liability. And, it’s true that his shot suppression numbers often leave plenty to be desired and he hasn’t been above 50 percent in goals-for percentage in the last four seasons.

But, if Del Zotto comes at as reasonable of a price as his projected salary indicates he might, he’s a serviceable option to plug into the second pairing next season.

Brendan Smith

Age: 28

Projected cap hit: $2.1m

Player GP TOI/G Goals Assists SA% (relative) GF% (relative) Smith 51 19:15 3 6 48.9 (+2.3) 52.5(+3.1)

Like Del Zotto and Schmidt, Smith is also a strong skater, an asset to a Caps team that could stand to become more dangerous in transition. He’s also a master shot suppressor, as his shot-against metrics over the last few seasons have been borderline elite.

Smith hasn’t always been trusted with top-four minutes and some of the reasoning for this is that he’s been criticized for inconsistent play. Further, he doesn’t put up eye-popping offensive numbers, but neither did the guy he’d be replacing, Nate Schmidt.

Smith is far from a perfect option, but there’s a lot to like about his game. His shot suppression abilities could mesh well on a pairing with John Carlson since limiting shots against is not a strong suit of Carlson’s game.

Patrick Wiercioch

Age: 26

Projected cap hit: $1.1m

Player GP TOI/G Goals Assists SA% (relative) GF% (relative) Wiercioch 39 14:41 0 4 47.0 (-4.6) 38.5(-11.3)

Coming off a poor season in Colorado, Wiercioch wasn’t tendered a qualifying offered and will be a free agent on July 1st. Looking at those numbers from last season, teams aren’t going to be lining up to give Wiercioch a big payday. But some context is needed. For starters, Wiercioch played in the black hole that was Colorado last season. Second, despite a disastrous 2016-17, he’s still been a very good possession player over the course of his career. In 268 games, Wiercioch has posted a 51.9 shot attempt percentage.

While he may not be the flashiest option, Wiercioch could be a very useful player for a Caps team that needs a left-handed defender and has limited cap space to work with.

Jakub Kindl

Age: 30

Projected cap hit: $998,308

Player GP TOI/G Goals Assists SA% (relative) GF% (relative) Kindl 57 16:40 4 8 44.9 (-3.1) 32.9(-0.2)

Like Wiercioch, Kindl is not a very appealing option based off of last season. But, beggars can’t be choosers when you have limited cap space and only three NHL-caliber defenders on your team. There are more appealing options, and there are some other unmentioned players that may be better than Kindl. But, Kindl should come cheap, so he should have some appeal to the Caps.

And, Kindl is not as bad as his numbers from last season make it appear. In the previous two seasons, he was near the top of the league in shot attempt percentage among defenders. If the Caps find themselves with even less space than the $2-3 million I’m estimating they have to spend on a defender, Kindl could be a solid buy-low option with the hope that he has a bounce back season.

Brendan Smith is the guy I hope the Caps target to play on the left side of the second defensive pair alongside John Carlson. But, with such a thin group of defensemen set to hit the open market on July 1st, he could end up out of the Caps price range. If that happen, Wiercioch could be a good backup plan. Regardless, the Caps badly need to improve their defense and have little financial flexibility to do so.

Headline image: Jeff Gross