The Washington Capitals have officially reached a deal to purchase CapFriendly, an excellent public resource that has been serving NHL fans for nearly a decade. It will no longer be available once the sale closes, according to the Associated Press.

“This strategic move will provide the Capitals organization with the ability to digest, present and analyze both our internal and league-supplied data,” Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan confirmed in a statement on Wednesday.

The GM added: “We anticipate that this acquisition will significantly enhance and integrate the various branches of our hockey operations department, allowing us to strengthen our management, scouting, analytics and player development, in addition to augmenting our salary cap and contractual applications.”

Under the terms of the agreement, the site “will continue to operate independently through the draft in late June and start of free agency before the transaction is completed in the middle of the summer,” per AP.

That means that hockey fans will have access to the popular site for another month or so — just in time for the NHL draft and free agent frenzy on July 1. A couple of staff members at CapFriendly will join Washington's organization, including Jamie, Ryan and Christopher Davis, per AP.

“The Capitals are excited to add the CapFriendly platform and the team's related deep industry knowledge to the front office,” MacLellan continued.

Capitals taking away a valuable public resource

Although it's a shrewd move for the Capitals to get a competitive edge — and ensure that the other 31 NHL franchises don't benefit from the business' unique qualities — the site is going to be sorely missed across the hockey world.

A big factor in the deal was reportedly assistant general manager Don Fishman.

“Assistant GM Don Fishman has been an expert in managing the salary cap for several years, helping Washington win the Stanley Cup in 2018 and reach the playoffs 15 times in the past 17 seasons,” wrote AP. “The Capitals believe this will give them an even bigger boost in navigating the finances of the game.”

While hockey fans will certainly miss CapFriendly's excellent database — this writer included — there will likely be other similar websites that pop up. One that is already active is PuckPedia, a similar site storing NHL salary data that has also been around for a while. The founder, Hart Levine, has already made it clear his team is ready to take over as a potential CapFriendly successor.

“We were already working on some exciting development, but this obviously will expedite and speed that work up,” Levine told AP. “We've been getting very useful feedback, which we're taking to move quickly and be responsive to people's suggestions. It's an opportunity for us to learn, build and adapt and hopefully become a trusted and important hockey destination.”

Although it's certainly a controversial decision, it'll be interesting to see how this benefits the Capitals front office over the next few seasons, and if it will lead to increased success in the final few years of Alex Ovechkin's career.