The arbitration case for Washington Capitals defenseman Shaone Morrisonn has been ruled and he was awarded $1.975 million, for a one-year deal. Morrisonn was an impressive plus-14 after Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach and competed in the playoffs with a broken jaw.

— Craig Custance, Sporting News

This is the first arbitration award to come in this summer, with only Jay Bouwmeester, Antoine Vermette, Valtteri Filppula and Ville Koistinen still scheduled.

I saw Morrisonn play his entire junior career in Kamloops, and it's remarkable how far he's come since that point. He was very raw in 2001 when drafted 19th overall, a position many thought too high, but he's filled out and now plays the shutdown minutes for Washington.

Morrisonn is tough, doesn't take a lot of dumb penalties and can skate. He's basically the Caps' No. 3 defenceman, and plays the big minutes on the penalty kill.

Definitely a useful player — although given his point totals, he'll never cash in quite like his teammate Mike Green.

A fair contract until he's a restricted free agent again next summer.

The biggest problem is that Washington's now about $2-million over the salary cap and will have to shuffled a body out somehow. Ideally, I'd imagine they'd like to move out Michael Nylander's contract, but I don't know if that'll be possible.
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