Top 3 players worth letting go by Capitals
It’s only a matter of time before a big thing happens in D.C. No I’m not talking about the Commanders sale and the exodus of Daniel Snyder but thank the lord for that. But I’m talking about the Washington Capitals making a trade. Who will they trade? Well we at least know one or two.
But we got to include three for the sake of the slideshow so who are the three that are likely to depart from the Caps? I hate that I get asked to do these things.
#3 T.J. Oshie
This is going to get me a lot of heat but for the record I DON’T WANT IT TO HAPPEN. But if general manager Brian MacLellan gets desperate to shed salary, T.J. Oshie may not be the worst option.
I told you this was going to get bad. Again this is me putting my emotions at the door and becoming a total hockey nerd.
Some people say the Oshie contract with an AAV of $5.75 million that’s good for two more seasons was a waste of money. It wasn’t. It was good for at least three or four seasons.
Unfortunately after he injured himself in the first round of 2019 against the Carolina Hurricanes the heart and soul of the Caps hasn’t been the same.
#2 Anthony Mantha
Another player, thankfully one that makes more sense to get rid of than the last slide, that’s worth letting go is Anthony Mantha. Per reports around the NHL and a couple of sources, Mantha hasn’t been getting much interest among other teams.
It’s probably because of his high cap hit that goes along with his inconsistent production. Teams aren’t stupid to see that if you have a cap hit north of five million but can’t even score 15 goals, it’s alarming.
So if the Caps want to shop Mantha, somebody has to be included with him. Maybe the third slide or the first slide in this article. Maybe a prospect.
But if it’s a prospect, it looks like Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas and Beck Malenstyn could be in the clear. That means don’t expect any player of that trio to be dealt in a trade package.
Lots of Caps fans have been calling for Mantha to be traded. It makes sense. Some people weren’t a fan of the trade for him in the first place. But that isn’t Mantha’s fault. Jakub Vrana was just too much of a fan favorite.
#1 Evgeny Kuznetsov
The number one is the easiest in this list and it’s Evgeny Kuznetsov. Whether you want it to happen or not, he wants out of Washington. If MacLellan said it to Mike Vogel, the writer of WashCaps.com and who I call The Godfather of Caps writing it must be true.
MacLellan told Vogel about how they tried to execute a trade in the lead up to and during the NHL Draft:
“Our strategy going into the draft time period was to make a trade, to identify the age group we’re kind of targeting and try and make a trade and bring in a top-6 forward, trade one or two guys. We were open to possibilities. Pursued a number of things, but that, unfortunately, didn’t come through for us.”
The Caps won’t need free agency. They are 100 percent all in on the trade. I’ll have another article soon explaining more on why free agency is out of the picture based on the salary cap situation (for now).
Must Read. Clayton Keller is easily worth pursuing. light
If the Caps can find a return of a forward in the 25 to 30 age range they’ll be golden. If not, they might have to wait it out. See if Kuznetsov and new coach Spencer Carbery can gel and if they can’t maybe Kuzy can increase his trade value and make both sides happy.