The Vegas Golden Knights have acquired forward Anthony Mantha from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-round pick.
A Goal Scorer Heads to Vegas
Despite being known as a player who could find the back of the net with the Detroit Red Wings, Mantha hadn’t shown that ability to the same extent with the Capitals until this season. The 29-year-old found his scoring touch once again, and as a result, he can be a major difference-maker for a Stanley Cup contender. He currently has 20 goals and 14 assists through 56 games this season with a team seven points out of a playoff spot. He can immediately slot into the top-six and I’d expect his production to go up from there.
Mantha’s contract will expire at the end of this season, and with Washington retaining 50 percent of the salary, he’ll only have a cap hit of $2.85 million for the Golden Knights this season. It’s unlikely that he’ll return to the team in 2024-25 given their current salary cap situation, but he can help push them toward back-to-back Stanley Cups this spring.
Capitals Build Toward Future
The Capitals had been a very good team for a long time, but now we’ve seen the last of Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Ovechkin’s career is nearing its end. They need to prepare for the next era of hockey in the United States’ capital city, and the sooner they start, the less painful it’ll be. They acquired some future assets when they sold off some pieces at last year’s deadline, and they decided to do the same thing this year, which was the right decision. There was some belief that they may try to re-sign Mantha, but it would only lead to a very good player stuck on a mediocre team for years to come. For both the player and the organization, moving on from Mantha made much more sense and now they’ll improve their draft stock as a result.
The Capitals have spent quite a while trying to put Ovechkin in a position to succeed as he chases Wayne Gretzky’s goal record. As a result, they’ve somewhat mortgaged some of their future to keep a competitive team around him. Now they’ve acquired some assets that will help replenish their prospect pool, and the players could potentially turn into key pieces for their next core group.
Both teams got what they needed out of this deal, as the Golden Knights got some needed reinforcements as they push toward another Stanley Cup while the Capitals got some assets that can help them build toward their future.
More must-reads: