The Washington Capitals are in a bit of a weird spot. They want to rebound and make the Stanley Cup Playoffs after missing this past season. However, the window of time to win with the current core is rather short. One member of the team's current core, forward Tom Wilson, is sticking around for the long haul, win or lose.

Wilson and the Capitals agreed to a seven-year contract on Friday, the team confirmed on Twitter. The total worth of the contract is $45.5 million, carrying a $6.5 million annual average value.

Further details provided by CapFriendly shed a bit of light on the structure of this deal. Wilson has a modified no-trade clause for the length of the contract. Beginning next summer, he can submit a 15-team no-trade list to the Capitals and block a trade to any team on that list. In 2028, the list goes down to 10 teams.

Furthermore, Wilson's base salary will be less than his cap hit through the length of his deal. That said, the veteran Capitals forward is set to make more in total salary in the first two seasons than his $6.5 million cap hit.

Now that we know a bit more about this contract, let's see how both sides did here. Here are our grades for the seven-year extension signed by Tom Wilson and the Washington Capitals.

Tom Wilson signs with Capitals

Wilson does incredibly well here. He receives a major pay rise that is well above his market value. He gets long-term stability instead of going through the uncertainty of the NHL Free Agency market next summer. And he has some sort of control over his future with the modified no-trade clause.

It gets even better for Wilson, too. CapFriendly revealed that, given the structure of the contract, Wilson has essentially made it difficult for the Capitals to buy him out in the final three years.

Now, this doesn't mean he is guaranteed to see out the entire seven years of the contract. However, it's a lot harder for the Capitals to let him go unless they simply want to cut their losses in five years.

Outside of the contract, this deal likely lands Wilson a major honor. He is the most obvious candidate to replace future Hall of Famer Alex Ovechkin as the Capitals captain once Ovi calls it a career.

All in all, it's hard to not like this contract from Wilson's point of view. He is making more money than he'd likely receive on the open market, he has long-term stability, he has control over his future, and he could wear the “C” on his sweater soon. It's easy to see why Wilson signed on the dotted line.

Capitals sign Tom Wilson

For the Capitals, you can understand why they wanted to keep Wilson around. He is a big part of this team, even though he doesn't light the stat sheet on fire. However, this is not a great contract for them on paper.

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Yes, Wilson brings more to the table than a stat sheet can display. However, he is coming off a season in which he scored just 22 points. Granted, he played only 33 games, but that brings up an entirely new concern. Washington is certainly confident that Wilson's injury struggles from this season won't be a reoccurring thing.

And there's reason for the Capitals to believe this. Wilson has played less than 50 games on two occasions, including 2022-23. The other occasion was simply because of a shortened season due to COVID-19.

However, another concern is his suspension history. Wilson has served a total of 30 games worth of suspensions in his career. He was suspended for things such as checks to the head and unsportsmanlike conduct. Perhaps the Capitals feel these suspensions are a thing of the past for their veteran forward.

Washington does well to lock in a potential future captain. And while a buyout in the final three years is a hard pill to swallow, the contract shouldn't be too hard to move on from if need be. Especially in the first four years of the extension.

Again, you can appreciate Washington's desire to keep Wilson on the roster as they move into the future. Things could play out entirely differently than we expect, but for now, this could backfire horrendously for the Capitals.

Grades and final thoughts

Tom Wilson receives a high mark for his part in this contract extension. I could list the things he received in this again, but I'll simplify it and say he received everything a player could want in a deal like this. Washington receives a middle-of-the-road mark. The logic behind extending Wilson makes sense. However, the actual extension itself could blow up in their face in a big way.

Tom Wilson grade: A+

Washington Capitals grade: C