Will Washington Capitals' Busy Offseason Make Them Any Better in 2015-16?

T.J. Oshie, American hero, was involved in the most American of trades Thursday.

The St. Louis Blues sent the shootout star of the 2014 Sochi Olympics to the Washington Capitals in exchange for Troy Brouwer, goaltending prospect Pheonix Copley and a third-round pick in 2016, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com), in the latest move that bolsters the top-six forwards of the team that resides in the nation's capital.

The Blues identified a problem after losing in the first round of the playoffs and did the absolutely wrong thing to address it. Instead of changing coaches during an offseason in which great ones were everywhere, they decided to make themselves more physical than they already were.

Along with signing Justin Williams to a prudent two-year, $6.5 million deal late Wednesday, a pact reported by NHL.com, the Capitals are doing everything they can to make up the one-goal difference that ended their season in the second round of the playoffs against the New York Rangers. 

But is this enough? Is adding Williams and Oshie and subtracting Brouwer and (likely) Joel Ward going to get the Capitals to their first conference final with Alex Ovechkin on the roster?

Throw in the fact the Capitals couldn't re-sign Mike Green, and general manager Brian MacLellan's work likely isn't done yet.

Let's take a look at the four forwards who are coming to and exiting Washington, D.C., this summer.

Player	Age	Goals	Assists	Points	FF%	FF%-rel
Justin Williams	33	18	23	41	55.7	+1.42
T.J. Oshie	28	19	36	55	53.4	+0.40
Joel Ward	34	19	15	34	50.6	-1.27
Troy Brouwer	29	21	22	43	50.1	-1.85

Across the board, the Capitals became younger and stronger at five-on-five with Oshie and Williams. Washington also gained a smidgen of cost certainty, as Brouwer has a $3.8 million cap hit for one more season, while Oshie is at $4.5 million for the next two campaigns. Ward's expired contract had a $3.0 million cap hit, while Williams will only cost $250,000 more for the next two seasons.

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

That's some terrific money management, as the Capitals are that much better for less than $1 million more in 2015-16 cap space.

Think about how close the Capitals were to beating the Rangers. With Washington holding a 3-1 edge in the series and a one-goal lead in Game 5, Chris Kreider scored with less than two minutes remaining to send the game to overtime. What followed for the Capitals were three consecutive one-goal losses, two in the extra period.

The margin between winning and losing in a salary-cap league is razor-thin; with two small upgrades at forward in the past 24 hours, the Capitals are hoping they've made up the difference.

Assuming the Capitals re-sign restricted free agents Marcus Johansson and Evgeny Kuznetsov, this is a rough estimate of their forward lines next season, at least right now.

Left wing	Center	Right wing
Alex Ovechkin	Nicklas Backstrom	T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsy	Marcus Johansson	Justin Williams
Jason Chimera	Evgeny Kuznetsov	Tom Wilson
Brooks Laich	Jay Beagle	Michael Latta

If the Capitals are banking on small but meaningful upgrades in free agency, they are probably hoping for the same from the young forwards who are already on the roster. Slight improvements from Andre Burakovsky, Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson and Michael Latta could be the difference between a puck ricocheting to Derek Stepan for a game-winner as opposed to Brooks Laich.

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

How MacLellan fills the void left by Green, a No. 1 defenseman dominating in a No. 5 role last season, is crucial to the Capitals' 2015-16 success.

Cody Franson, a right-handed shot who could be just as effective as Green on a bottom pairing, is probably looking for top-four money. Unless Franson wants to take less cash than perhaps he originally envisioned, the Capitals may have to move Johansson in order to land someone comparable to Green and stay under the salary cap.

The Capitals have picked their spots and done well to upgrade the roster over the past two days. Just how much better will they be when the puck drops on next season? Oshie, Williams and Green's replacement will be big factors in determining the answer.

Statistics via NHL.com. Contract information via Spotrac.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @DaveLozo.