Beagle’s secret negotiation weapon: big sad eyes.
The Capitals had three restricted free agents eligible for arbitration this year — Mike Green, Mathieu Perreault, and new fan favorite Jay Beagle. The team extended qualifying offers to all three players earlier during the offseason, and Thursday the club announced that they had signed two out of the three.
Mathieu Perreault effectively doubled last year’s salary, signing a two-year deal worth $2.1 million that will pay him $1 million this season and $1.1 million the next, while Beagle signed a three-year deal worth $2.7 million, a $388,000 raise from last season’s salary.
“They told me I was part of the elite forwards on the team,” Perreault told the Washington Post. “They see me on top lines and they think I can do good things for them, so I’m excited for next year. A new coach coming in hopefully I’ll get a little more ice time than I did last year.”
We’re still waiting to hear word of Mike Green’s contract talks; the Capitals have an option to elect their own arbitrator, but they likely will be able to resolve it in the same way that Beagle and Perreault have — leg-wrestling straightfoward negotiation.
