Ted Leonsis Laments The Caps ‘Heartbreak’ While Some Of His Free Agents Move Forward

Ted Leonsis, four days removed from appearing to be enjoying himself at the expense of Penguins fans, let his thoughts about the latest Capitals disappointment be known. He called the Game 7 loss “heartbreaking” in a post on Ted’s Take:

I try not to lose sight of the incredible performances we witnessed between October and early April. But the playoffs, while incredibly exciting, have been heartbreaking. We have been a good team for a number of years, but everyone knows we ultimately are judged on our playoff performance, and anything less than a Cup is a disappointment.

He went on to call the difference between winning and losing in the NHL playoffs “razor-thin,” something we dug into on Thursday in a failed attempt to make ourselves feel better. There’s really no bright side to all of this, and as Leonsis acknowledged, what lies ahead this offseason is still unknown.

T.J. Oshie, Kevin Shattenkirk, Justin Williams, Karl Alzner, and Daniel Winnik are all unrestricted free agent, and Washington may not be able to keep any of them. Two of them — Oshie and Williams — expressed their interest in remaining with the team:

Oshie says he hopes to stay in a Washington. "It's a great fit for me…it's a great fit for my family," he said.

— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikCSN) May 12, 2017

Williams would also like to return but "saying something doesn't mean it's going to happen." Knows big changes are in store. #Caps

— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikCSN) May 12, 2017

And one of them, Shattenkirk, seems to already know he isn’t coming back, using “their” and “they” referring to the Caps:

Shattenkirk: "You can fail and still be optimistic…If next year is their year and they win a Cup, no one's gonna care about last 10 years"

— Brian McNally (@bmcnally14) May 12, 2017

This was the end of what GM Brian MacLellan in February called a “two-year window” to win the Cup. Hopefully they find a way to keep it open for at least one more less heartbreaking year