Whether or not T.J. Oshie re-signs with the Washington Capitals appears to depend on whether or not the NHL raises the salary cap for the 2017-18 season.

Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said Tuesday that the team will likely need the salary cap to increase by $4 million to keep Oshie.

"If (the salary cap) comes in at $77 (million), we'll probably have a legitimate shot at signing him," MacLellan said, per NHL.com.

The NHL announced the cap ceiling of $73 million for the 2016-17 season on June 21 last year. 

Oshie, 30, scored 33 goals and added 23 assists in 68 games this season in the final year of a five-year, $20.875 million deal signed with the St. Louis Blues in 2012.

He added four goals and 12 points in 13 playoff games as the Capitals were eliminated in the second round.

MacLellan said at the moment, he had only engaged in general talks with Oshie around a new contract. The Capitals general manager said he will first turn his attention to re-signing the teams restricted free agents, namely Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, Andre Burakovsky and Nate Schmidt. He said both Burakovsky and Schmidt will be moved into slots of the team's top two lines/pairings. 

"I think it's just going to happen naturally," MacLellan said, per the league's website. "Our [restricted free agents] are going to take more ice time. They're going to be a bigger part of this team."

The rise of Schmidt hints the team will not re-sign veteran Karl Alzner, who has spent the past nine seasons with the Capitals.