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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
In need of a winger, the Vegas Golden Knights landed one Tuesday when they traded for Anthony Mantha with a 2024 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-round pick going to the Washington Capitals, the teams announced.
Getting a top-six winger was thought to be a priority for the defending Stanley Cup champions only to become a reality on Monday. That’s when they moved captain and left winger Mark Stone, who is out with an upper-body injury, to long-term injured reserve.
Moving Stone to LTIR allowed the Golden Knights to create an additional $7.2 million in cap space, according to the website, CapFriendly.
Finding someone who could replace Stone is what led to the Golden Knights being rumored with a number of options in what’s become a somewhat stagnant market primarily due to teams trying to sort out their respective cap situations.
Enter Mantha, who was among those wingers that was believed to be in play. The 29-year-old is in the final season of a five-year contract worth $5.7 million annually. His 20 goals and 34 points in 56 games with the Capitals marks the third time in his career that he’s reached the 20-goal mark.
He’ll now head to Vegas where he’ll look to parlay his regular-season success into the sort of results that could help the Golden Knights capture a consecutive crown. For his career, Mantha has six points — all assists — in 11 playoff games.
Entering Tuesday, the Golden Knights (33-22-7) had lost three straight games but remained third in the Pacific Division standings. They’re trailing the Edmonton Oilers by three points for second place while remaining a point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators in the wild-card race.
The expectation for the Golden Knights is that Mantha could possibly replicate the success they had ahead of last year’s deadline when they traded for Ivan Barbashev. A year ago, Stone was moved to LTIR after having a second back surgery in 12 months. That created an opening, and it prompted the Golden Knights to trade for Barbashev, who was also a pending UFA.
Barbashev had six goals and 16 points in 23 games with the Golden Knights before scoring seven goals and 18 points in 22 games to help the club capture their first title. It also led to Barbashev returning to the Golden Knights on a five-year contract worth $5 million annually.
A veteran who will be 30 when next training camp comes around, Mantha now has an opportunity in a playoff race to sharpen his free agent resume. While he may not accrue the kind of price this summer that he landed on his previous deal, he should be able to slide into a second- or third-line role with his new club and make the most of the spring spotlight. The Capitals will retain 50 percent of his remaining salary while Mantha skates for Vegas.
The decision to move on from Mantha marks the second straight year that the Capitals (28-23-9) have used the deadline to build for the future with the notion they might not be done. It’s possible they could potentially add more draft capital should they seek to move on from pending UFAs such as Nic Dowd, Joel Edmundson and Max Pacioretty.
Earlier this season, the Capitals managed to stay in the playoff discussion despite struggling to score goals. But their bid to return to the postseason after a year hiatus started to face questions in mid-January when a six-game losing streak began a stretch that saw the Caps lose eight of their next nine games.
That skid coupled with the fact they have scored the fewest goals in the Eastern Conference are among the items that have played a role in why the Capitals were seven points behind the Detroit Red Wings and the Tampa Bay Lightning for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spots entering Tuesday.