Top 3 players that should be traded this offseason
The Washington Capitals could very well make a hockey trade soon according to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman in his final 32 Thoughts podcast episode of the summer.
In the signature show, Friedman went through each team and talked about their offseason moves and what could possibly be next.
When it comes to the Caps, Friedman said the team is ready to make a move for their top six. But who could they possibly trade?
This was really hard to come up with. When all was said and done I came up with two defenseman and one forward that could go. No the forward isn’t Tom Wilson or Evgeny Kuznetsov.
#3 Nick Jensen
I can’t put Evgeny Kuznetsov on this list because I think if any Caps player deserves one last chance it’s him. But maybe the Caps can nickel or dime a defenseman for a forward deal. One that comes to mind is Nick Jensen.
Now let me be clear, usually when it comes to trade articles the team wants to give away someone bad. But that’s not the case with Jensen. He would be at a good value and provide a shutdown role to whoever he joined. He has a cap hit of $4,050,000.
#2 John Carlson
This could be another defenseman for forward swap. Like Nick Jensen, I’m not trying to deal John Carlson because he’s bad. Rather to unload the contract and get extra money to get an even better top six forward.
This would also allow both Joel Edmundson, who was acquired in a trade for draft picks with the Montreal Canadiens, and Alex Alexeyev, who was just re upped along with RFA Martin Fehervary, a chance to both be in the lineup.
The Caps would miss Carlson’s offense for sure. They won’t miss his turnovers and inability to get back on defense. But not all defenseman have two way games. If you’re good at offense you might not be good on defense and vice versa.
Now the goal when making a deal when involving John Carlson is to make the only unattractive thing his $8 million cap hit. As long as they don’t tell the other team about his defensive deficiencies and make his offense look sexy, they should get a deal done.
#1 Anthony Mantha
The forward always was going to be between Evgeny Kuznetsov and Anthony Mantha right? So if I had to pick I go Mantha. Kuznetsov is more pricy and tricky to deal and has more potential in resurrecting his near Conn Smythe 2018 performance.
Mantha won’t be difficult but who knows if the Caps have to add another piece to the package?
Jonathan Bailey of our fellow NHL FanSided site for the New Jersey Devils, Pucks and Pitchforks wrote about the possibility of the Devils making a deal with the Caps. Would it make sense and if so can we get Jonas Siegenthalter back?
Related Story. Capitals sign Andrew Cristall to entry level contract. light
Those are the 3 players I see getting traded. Thank the lord I’m not Brian MacLellan because I will probably get flamed for some of these choices.