The Washington Capitals are hoping to tap into depth scoring on the cheap.

The club recently signed forward Devante Smith-Pelly to a one-year, two-way deal worth $650,000 at the NHL level in the hopes that the 42nd overall pick from the 2010 draft will deliver on all that made him a once-tantalizing prospect.

"I think there's some untapped potential," general manager Brian MacLellan said Monday following the signing, according to J.J. Regan of CSN Mid-Atlantic. "I think maybe conditioning played a factor in some of it. I think we're going to work with him to see if we can get a little bit of that back and create a player that we can use."

Smith-Pelly was made available after the final year of his previous contract was bought out by the New Jersey Devils. The Capitals, who handed sizable extensions to T.J. Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov, scooped him up with a view to filling out their bottom six.

"I think for us, we're looking for ways on the bottom end of our lineup to add cheaper players or develop cheaper players because of the (Kuznetsov) signing and the (Oshie) signing," MacLellan said. "So we're going to have to be more creative on the fourth line."

Smith-Pelly has never played in more than 54 games in a single NHL season, registering 33 goals and 44 assists in 266 appearances to date.

He did, however, score 27 goals in 55 AHL games back in 2013-14, a sign of what's possible if he puts it all together.

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Antti Raanta is moving from understudy to starring role, and he believes he's ready for the spotlight.

The 28-year-old goaltender spent the past four seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers after signing with the former as an undrafted free agent in 2013. He's now set to rise to the ranks of starting netminders after being acquired by the Arizona Coyotes earlier this offseason, and owes a debt of gratitude to those he previously backed up.

"I have been privileged to play behind Corey Crawford in Chicago and Henrik Lundqvist in New York, and working with great goalie coaches in Chicago and New York," Raanta said, per Dave Vest on the team's website. "It's been kind of like a step-by-step process for me. Last year, I kind of felt that my game was finding the right way and my confidence level was going better and better all the time. I felt like I was giving the team the chance to win every night."

Indeed, Raanta's play was a boon for the Rangers, and his numbers actually outshined "The King," albeit in fewer games.

Lundqvist, of course, remains one of the best in the game for a reason, and Raanta knows he has a ways to go before reaching that level.

"There's lots of games to play, but you have to find the right way to handle your emotions and your work ethic. Hopefully I've learned something from Henrik's work ethic and hopefully I can be, one day, as good as him."

Raanta is essentially penciled in as the Coyotes' No. 1 netminder next season, with Louis Domingue set to challenge him for starts.

"There's going to be other goalies and there's going to be a battle for the No. 1 spot (in Arizona), but I feel my game is going in the right direction … and I feel like I'm ready to take one more step and be playing more and get the No. 1 spot."

For his NHL career, Raanta has posted a record of 78-47-23 with eight shutouts and a save percentage of .917.

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Chris Kunitz is officially a leading candidate for hockey dad of the year.

The former Pittsburgh Penguins winger is enjoying his day with the Stanley Cup, and kicked things off by filling it with milk so his kids could enjoy a most memorable bowl of cereal.

This is the fourth time Kunitz has brought the Cup home, having won with Anaheim (2007) and Pittsburgh (2009, 2016, 2017).

He's set to begin the next phase of his career with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and general manager Steve Yzerman is no doubt hoping Kunitz will provide the lucky charms in their quest for the Cup.

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After months of speculation, Ilya Kovalchuk nixed any buzz of a possible return to the NHL next season, opting to sign a one-year contract to stay with St. Petersburg SKA of the KHL.

Whether the 34-year-old sniper actually had suitors in North America isn't exactly clear, but he told St. Petersburg's official team website that the NHL opting out of the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang was one the main factors he decided to stay home.

Kovalchuk has suited up in Russia for each of the last three winter games, but hasn't enjoyed much success with his countrymen, failing to medal in each event. However, Russia's freedom to dip into KHL rosters could make them an early favorite for next year's tournament.

In 2016-17, Kovalchuk finished second in the KHL scoring race with 78 points in 60 games, en route to capturing the Gagarin Cup as league champions.

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Carey Price is making bank.

The Montreal Canadiens netminder will become the highest-paid puck stopper in NHL history thanks to his recently-signed mega extension.

The deal is worth $84 million over eight years, with $70 million paid out in signing bonuses. That means Price will receive eight one-time payments every July 1 over the life the contract, including $13-million checks when Canada Day arrives in 2018 and 2019. He'll also earn another $2 million in salary over each of those first two seasons.

Price will earn $7 million in salary on the final year of his existing pact. His new contract begins in 2018-19 and expires in the summer of 2026. Here is the full breakdown, as per CapFriendly:

Beginning in 2018-19, Price will earn double the salary of the NHL's next highest-paid netminder, as the New York Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist will take home $7.5 million. Here's how the top-five highest-paid goalies will stack up:

From a historical perspective, Price's new deal also tops the goaltending legends, as he'll see more money than the top-three all-time winningest goalies:

(Figures as per NHL Salary History Database)

Price, 29, appeared in 62 games with the Canadiens last season, posting a 37-20-5 record with a .923 save percentage.

In 2014-15, he took home four major awards, including the William Jennings, the Ted Lindsay Award, the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender, and the Hart Trophy as the NHL MVP.

Last season, Price passed Ken Dryden for third all time in Canadiens' franchise wins. He now stands at 270 victories and could leapfrog both Roy (289) and Jacques Plante (314) as soon as next season.

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Oh no you don't, Evgeni.

Over the past week-and-a-half, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin has been sharing some classic career highlights via Twitter.

Sunday was no exception as the Russian star shared a shootout effort in which he beat then-Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo with a nifty deke.

Well, Luongo took exception to the memory and made sure to reply to Malkin with a video of him robbing the Penguins star with a glove save in the 2016 All-Star 3-on-3 tournament.

Best two out of three?

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The Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Louis Blues, and Detroit Red Wings have less than two weeks to come to terms with some key players before the decision may be made for them.

That's when the likes of Tyler Johnson, Colton Parayko, and Tomas Tatar are scheduled to take their cases before an arbitrator, with the three hearings set for July 20.

The three are among the 27 players set to go before arbitration this summer. Thirty players filed by Wednesday's deadline, but three cases have already reached a resolution.

That includes Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk, New York Rangers winger Jesper Fast, and Buffalo Sabres forward Johan Larsson. All three players received substantial raises above their qualifying offers:

Teams and players can continue to negotiate in the days leading up to the hearing, and in the following deliberation period before a verdict is announced.

That was the case last offseason, when Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie was the lone player to reach the hearing stage of the 25 NHLers who filed for arbitration. However, Barrie and the Avalanche later agreed to a four-year extension before a verdict was announced.

Here is the full schedule of hearings:

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Nearly a week after his agent stated that Ilya Kovalchuk would remain in the KHL, the Russian sniper signed a one-year deal with St. Petersburg SKA, the league announced.

Heading into the offseason it looked as though the former New Jersey Devil and Atlanta Thrasher would be making a return to the NHL, but after the Devils - who hold the 34-year-old's rights - were unable to agree on a contract or potential trade, Kovalchuk decided to sign with the team that he has spent the past four seasons with.

Luckily for Kovalchuk, the Devils hold his rights for just one more season, meaning after playing out the 2017-18 campaign with St. Petersburg SKA, he will become an unrestricted free agent and will be able to sign wherever he likes.

Last season, Kovalchuk tallied a KHL career-high 32 goals and 78 points in 60 games.

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