Winners and Losers from the Golden Knights-Capitals Anthony Mantha Trade

From the moment the Vegas Golden Knights put winger Mark Stone on long-term injured reserve Monday, it seemed pretty obvious that they were going to make a big splash before Friday's NHL trade deadline.

Maybe even two of them.

They had a major need for another goal-scorer (or two), they had the salary-cap flexibility and they still have the aggressive mindset that makes them a contender for every big-name player who becomes available. It has made them a Stanley Cup contender from day one of the franchise's existence and produced a championship a year ago.

On Tuesday evening they made their latest big addition, acquiring forward Anthony Mantha from the Washington Capitals for a 2024 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-rounder.

The Capitals are also retaining 50 percent of Mantha's remaining salary for this season, giving them the flexibility to make another move before Friday.

With that trade in the books, let's talk about some winners and losers from the deal.

Everything about this trade is a win for the Golden Knights. Literally everything.

They get one of the top available forwards on the trade market. Mantha is a monster of a physical presence, is an outstanding possession driver (and has been for much of his career), is very good defensively and has bounced back offensively with 20 goals in 56 games this year. That comes out to a 29-goal pace over 82 games, which would be a career high.

He immediately steps into the Golden Knights lineup and becomes their third-leading goal-scorer.

From a hockey standpoint, it is a great fit.

What adds to the win for Vegas is that with the Capitals retaining half of Mantha's salary, it leaves the Golden Knights with several million in salary-cap space to keep adding.

By not giving up any of their first-round picks or any of their top prospects, they still have plenty of trade capital and cap flexibility to make another big move. Do not be surprised if they do it and keep adding to an already strong roster that will get even better when Stone inevitably returns for the playoffs.

Trading Mantha is the first sign of the Capitals waving the white flag on this season and admitting that the playoffs probably are not going to happen. While that is disappointing, it is not totally unexpected. Especially with the way the season has gone.

But there are a few other layers here that make it a big loss for them.

The first is that it serves as yet another reminder as to how the trade that originally brought Mantha to Washington simply did not work out for anybody. The Capitals acquired him from the Detroit Red Wings during the 2020-21 season in exchange for Jakub Vrana and draft picks.

At the time, it looked like a classic hockey trade that gave everybody what they needed and wanted.

It turned out to be a loss for pretty much everybody. Neither Mantha nor Vrana worked out with their new teams.

When Mantha finally did start to produce for the Capitals, it came in a lost season and resulted in his being traded for two draft picks that are unlikely to ever produce impact players.

What makes it even worse is the Capitals did the Golden Knights a favor by retaining salary and still could not get a first-round pick or decent prospect who can step in anytime soon.

Mantha is a big winner here because he not only gets an opportunity to play in the playoffs, he is also going to get an opportunity to play for the defending Stanley Cup champions and one of the top contenders in the league.

It is also a prime opportunity for him to continue to build his value for free agency after the season.

He has already taken a big step toward that with his big goal-scoring season. But nothing does more for a player's value on the open market than a big playoff performance. Now he has that opportunity. He was not going to get it in Washington this season.

To this point, Mantha's playoff track record has been lacking (zero goals in 10 career playoff games, all with Washington), but he is a different player and having a significantly improved season. He is also going to have an opportunity to play alongside either Jack Eichel, William Karlsson or Chandler Stephenson down the middle.

If he keeps filling the net and helps Vegas go on another deep Stanley Cup run, he is going to be a highly sought-after player in July.

Yes, the Golden Knights are slumping. Entering play on Wednesday they lost eight of their past 10 games and have been a .500 team since that 11-0-0 start. They maybe looked vulnerable, and some other Western Conference teams have leapfrogged them on the hierarchy of Stanley Cup contenders.

But that is going to change, and it is going to change rapidly.

Eichel is back in the lineup.

Stone will probably be back at some point in the playoffs. Maybe even at the start.

They managed to get a top forward to add to that lineup in Mantha and still have the salary-cap flexibility to add another top-line forward over the next two days.

Now you are looking at the possibility of facing a forward lineup in the playoffs that features Eichel, Stone, Mantha, Jonathan Marchessault, Karlsson, Stephenson, Ivan Barbashev and potentially another yet-to-be-acquired top-line forward (Jake Guentzel? Pavel Buchnevich? Frank Vatrano? Anthony Duclair? The options are endless).

When healthy, that is not going to be an easy lineup to beat.

Salary-cap info via CapFriendly.