After Elliotte Friedman confirmed that the Washington Capitals have bought and will shut down CapFrindly, several teams, including the Winnipeg Jets, are left with a major disadvantage heading into off-season trading.
"It won't happen until July, but according to multiple sources, the Washington Capitals have reached an agreement to purchase the outstanding CapFriendly website, @FriedgeHNIC reports."
The Washington Capitals have also made their intentions public, sharing that they will shut down the site to public use following the finalization of the purchase. Currently, CapFriendly is set to close in early July.
"Will be sad to see capfriendly disappear into the ether in July. I've been using it forever and go back to the capgeek era"
However, this buyout hurts more than fans trying to follow along with trades and salaries at home. According to NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman, most teams in the NHL, including the Winnipeg Jets, do not currently have their own infrastructure to track all this data.
"Friedman names teams that have something when CapFriendly goes offline (32TP): Seattle, New Jersey, Carolina, Chicago, Islanders, Toronto, Columbus. Pittsburgh didn't have anything before, but once Dubas got there they started building something."
Despite the glaring void left by CapFriendly, many hockey fans still have hope for their teams and tracking purposes with the number of developers interested in a replacement. Many have already shared the site PuckPedia, which provides users access to much of the same information.
"Puckpedia is a perfectly legitimate option that actually has more features than Capfriendly.
Everyone should check them out @PuckPedia"
With the space CapFriendly will leave already being filled on the internet, it is reasonable to suggest that other teams will either utilize this other website or create or purchase their own interface as done by nine NHL teams. Provided this, the Washington Capitals may regret their decision before the purchase goes through. Whether the Winnipeg Jets will be able to stay ahead of the curve, only time will tell.