Anthony Mantha has been traded.

A big trade from the Red Wings.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Anthony Mantha has been traded.
Richard Ulreich/CSM/Zuma

The Detroit Red Wings have pulled off arguably the biggest trade of the day.

According to an official announcement from the Red Wings organization, the Wings have sent veteran forward Anthony Mantha to the Washington Capitals. In exchange the Red Wings have secured themselves quite a haul, picking up both Jakub Vrana and Richard Panik as well as a first round draft selection at the 2021 National Hockey League Entry Draft and a second round draft selection at the 2022 NHL entry draft.

There's no question that this is a huge return for the Red Wings and no doubt one that fans will be very happy with given the direction their team has been trending in over the last few years. As for the Capitals it is of course a big time price to pay, but that being said I think it is clear here that the Capitals really wanted Mantha for their upcoming run in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

In Panik the Red Wings are getting a solid veteran player who is under contract for two more seasons at a relatively reasonable number, $2.75 million, and I suspect that they may have even gotten more of a return for taking this contract off the Capitals hands in this deal. 

Jakub Vrana is the most interesting piece here for the Red Wings, a relatively young forward at 25 years of age but one that has been very streaky throughout his career. The former first round pick (13th overall) at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft will get a chance to showcase his skills in a bigger role in Detroit and I suspect that the Red Wings are hoping he will blossom in that scenario much like Robbi Fabrri did for them relatively recently.

In Mantha they get a 26 year old winger who has shown himself to be a strong physical presence at times and one with a decent amount of offensive flair. Although Mantha has not looked as good over the last two seasons, it's hard to gauge how much of that should be attributed to the fact that he has been playing on very poor Red Wings' teams. In this current season he has 42 appearances for the Red Wings in which he recorded 11 goals and 10 assists for a combined 22 points. In spite of his offensive production Mantha currently boasts a plus minus rating of -14, but again how much of that is a product of the team around him is hard to tell.

He will provide the Capitals with another sizeable forward that can help them grind out teams in a 7 game series, and I suspect that the Capitals are very happy with what they have gotten in this deal.


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