The Vegas Golden Knights, who were in need of a winger, acquired one on Tuesday when they acquired Anthony Mantha in exchange for the Washington Capitals’ 2026 fourth-round selection and a 2024 second-round pick.
The defending Stanley Cup champions’ goal of acquiring a top-six winger finally became a reality on Monday. At that point, they placed left winger and captain Mark Stone—who is now out due to an upper-body injury—on long-term injured reserve.
The Golden Knights were able to generate an extra $7.2 million in cap space by moving Stone to LTIR, according to CapFriendly.com.
The Golden Knights have been linked to several choices in what has turned into a very stagnant market, mostly because teams are attempting to figure out their own cap situations. This is because they are searching for someone who could replace Stone.
Mantha, one of the wingers thought to be in play, enters the picture. The 29-year-old is playing out the last year of a five-year deal that pays $5.7 million a year. It is the third time in his career that he has scored 20 goals, along with 34 other points, in 56 games with the Capitals.
Now that he’s in Vegas, he’ll try to translate his performance during the regular season into the kind of outcomes that may lead the Golden Knights to consecutive titles. Mantha has six points in 11 playoff games throughout his career, all assists.
The Golden Knights (33-22-7) had lost three straight games going into Tuesday, but they were still third in the Pacific Division. They are now one point clear of the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators in the wild-card race, but they are now three points behind the Edmonton Oilers for second place.
The Golden Knights anticipate that Mantha could be able to duplicate the success they experienced prior to the deadline of the previous season when they acquired Ivan Barbashev. After undergoing his second back surgery in a year, Stone was transferred to LTIR a year ago. That opened up a spot, and the Golden Knights took advantage of it by trading for Barbashev, a prospective UFA.
Before netting seven goals and eighteen points in 22 games to help the team win its first championship, Barbashev scored six goals and sixteen points in 23 games with the Golden Knights. Additionally, it resulted in Barbashev signing a five-year, $5 million-per-year contract to rejoin the Golden Knights.
Mantha, a seasoned player who will turn thirty in the following training camp, now gets a chance to hone his free agent credentials in a postseason race. Even while he might not end up paying as much as he did on his prior contract, he ought to be able to settle into a second- or third-line role with his new team and take advantage of the spring spotlight. Half of Mantha’s remaining pay will stay with the Capitals while he skates for Vegas.
The Capitals (28-23-9) have utilized the deadline to build for the future with the idea that they might not be done for the second year in a row with Mantha’s choice to go on. If they decide to move on from pending UFAs like Nic Dowd, Joel Edmundson, and Max Pacioretty, they might be able to acquire more draft money.
Despite having trouble scoring goals, the Capitals were still able to make the playoffs earlier in the season. However, the Caps’ attempt to make the playoffs after a year off began to take a hit in mid-January as a six-game losing skid turned into a run of eight straight losses.
The Capitals were seven points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings for the final Eastern Conference wild-card slots entering Tuesday due to a combination of factors including their current losing streak and their lowest goal total in the conference.
