Maple Leafs Acquire Joel Edmundson From Capitals
The Capitals and Maple Leafs have agreed on a trade to send left-shot defenseman Joel Edmundson from Washington to Toronto, per a team release. Two draft picks – the Islanders’ 2024 third-round pick and the Blackhawks’ 2025 fifth-round pick – are heading back to Washington in the deal. The Capitals are retaining 50% of Edmundson’s already-reduced $1.75MM cap hit, bringing his cap hit down to $875K for the Maple Leafs. In a corresponding transaction to create the cap space needed for the trade, the Maple Leafs moved defenseman Conor Timmins from injured reserve to long-term injured reserve, per CapFriendly.
Edmundson, 30, has slipped to a depth role this season and is a pending UFA. After picking up Ethan Bear on the free-agent market midseason led to a defensive logjam in Washington, Edmundson looked to be on his way out after failing to solidify top-four minutes in his first season with the Caps.
The Maple Leafs have been in the market for blue-line depth for weeks, and they weren’t done after acquiring Ilya Lyubushkin from the Ducks last week for his second stint with the team. For the past few days, they’ve been linked to Edmundson, who can play both left and right defense and stands at a hulking 6-foot-5 and 224 pounds.
Edmundson’s production and possession metrics don’t move the needle much. Still, he does carry a massive advantage in playoff experience over other Leafs blue-liners who have been in their bottom-pairing rotation as of late, like Maxime Lajoie and William Lagesson. He’s sitting on a goal and six points in 44 games this season, and the Manitoba native’s 16:26 average time on ice is the lowest in quite a while. His possession metrics don’t paint him as an extreme liability after a disastrous 2022-23 campaign with the Canadiens, posting a 1.2 relative CF% at even strength and 47.4 xGF% (per Hockey Reference). There were some better shutdown options on the market, though.
Over 521 career games with the Blues, Canadiens, Capitals, and Hurricanes, Edmundson has 29 goals, 81 assists, 110 points, and a +18 rating, averaging 18:30 per game. After winning the Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019 and spending the following season in Carolina, he signed a four-year, $14MM contract ($3.5MM cap hit) with Montreal that expires this summer. The Caps acquired him for a third-round and seventh-round pick last offseason, with Montreal retaining 50% of his cap hit. Since Edmundson’s contract had already been involved in a prior retained salary transaction, the Caps and Leafs could not have used a third party to retain additional salary in this trade.
He’s not afraid to use his body, blocking 822 shots and recording 979 hits throughout his nine-year career. However, that hasn’t translated into positive possession quality for Edmundson’s team with him on the ice. He’s recorded an xGF% above 50 twice in his career, not since 2021, when he reached the Stanley Cup Final with Montreal. Last season was an especially difficult campaign for him, recording 23 points in 61 games with a career-worst -29 rating and a 42.9 xGF%.
Edmundson now moves from one team with a defensive logjam to another. Lyubushkin has settled in nicely on a pairing with Morgan Rielly since his acquisition, meaning Edmundson, Timmins, Simon Benoit, Mark Giordano, and Timothy Liljegren will now all compete for the fifth and sixth spots on the Toronto blue line when everyone is healthy.
The Maple Leafs don’t have an open roster spot for Edmundson yet, although CapFriendly reports Lagesson has been removed from the active roster and will likely hit waivers at 1 p.m. CT.
Former NHL and AHL defenseman Jordan Schmaltz was first to report that Edmundson had been traded to Toronto.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was first to report that the Capitals were retaining 50% of his cap hit.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the return.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Golden Knights Acquire Noah Hanifin From Flames
9:23 p.m.: The Vegas Golden Knights have announced the full trade package – sending a 2025 first-round pick, a conditional 2025 third-round pick, and defenseman Daniil Miromanov to the Flames. The first-round pick carries top-10 protection, while the third-round pick will upgrade to a 2024 second-round pick if Vegas advances to the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Vegas also sent a 2024 fifth-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers to broker the deal. Calgary retained 25 percent of Hanifin’s $4.95MM cap hit, while Philadelphia retained 50 percent, meaning he’ll only count towards $1.2375MM of Vegas’ salary cap. Philadelphia sent the rights to 27-year-old centerman Mikhail Vorobyov to Vegas to facilitate the salary retention.
Vorobyov played in 35 NHL games across the 2018-19 and 2019-20 season, scoring two goals and five points. He’s spent each of the last four seasons in Russia’s KHL, including the last three with routine heavyweight SKA St. Petersburg. Vorobyov has 112 points across 194 KHL games since the 2020-21 season.
5:28 p.m.: Even after acquiring Anthony Mantha from the Washington Capitals yesterday, the Vegas Golden Knights were not done adding to their current roster. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed that the Golden Knights would be acquiring defenseman Noah Hanifin from the Calgary Flames. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that defenseman Daniil Miromanov is heading from Vegas to Calgary as part of the return.
Not only will Vegas be adding a top defenseman to their already loaded defensive core, but Darren Dreger of TSN reports the two sides are working on a contract extension as well, although Friedman did pour some cold water on that scenario later. Since Hanifin will be a member of the Golden Knights before the trade deadline, he is eligible to sign an eight-year deal in Vegas.
With Alec Martinez being placed on the team’s injured reserve earlier this morning, Vegas had an opening next to top defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. Factoring in the recent activation of Shea Theodore, the Golden Knights have once again put together a top defensive core leading into the Stanley Cup playoffs.
As the defending Stanley Cup champions, Vegas will likely represent Hanifin’s best opportunity to win Lord Stanley’s trophy for the first time in his career. There are some personal ties as well for Hanifin in Nevada, as he did play with star center Jack Eichel a decade ago on the United States National Junior Development Team.
Suppose the Flames are willing to retain 50% of Hanifin’s salary. In that case, a deal became feasible, as Vegas was only $500k from being able to absorb Hanifin’s full salary for the rest of the season. Still holding on to their first-round pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, and a moderate prospect pool to deal from, the makings of a deal came to fruition rather quickly between the two teams.
New York Rangers Acquire Alexander Wennberg
3:11 pm: The Rangers have made the trade official, announcing that Wennberg will be headed east to New York.
2:18 pm: With a flurry of trade activity today, the New York Rangers have decided to enter into the madness. Emily Kaplan of ESPN is reporting that the Rangers are working on a deal with the Seattle Kraken that would land Alexander Wennberg in the Big Apple.
TSN’s Pierre Lebrun is reporting that the deal is done, indicating that the Kraken will be receiving the Rangers 2024 second-round pick, as well as New York’s fourth-round pick in 2025. Seattle will also be retaining 50% of Wennberg’s remaining salary, bringing his AAV down to $2.25MM with the Rangers.
Ever since the Rangers lost center Filip Chytil back in November due to a concussion, the team has been looking to fill the void for nearly the entire season. The organization has tried both Nick Bonino and Jonny Brodzinski in this role but had their eye on a bona fide forward to add down the middle.
Not as much of an offensive threat as he was during his time with the Columbus Blue Jackets, the addition of Wennberg should help in multiple areas of the Rangers lineup. Initially, he is readily available to center the team’s third line, and will also be able to serve on the team’s penalty kill unit as well.
Coming over to Seattle as an unrestricted free agent in the 2021-22 offseason, Wennberg is in the last year of a three-year, $13.5MM contract. Throughout his tenure in Seattle, Wennberg has played in a total of 142 games for the expansion franchise over the last three years, scoring 22 goals and 63 points in the process.
Although Wennberg doesn’t have the amount of success in the dot teams might be expecting out of their bottom-six centers, his possession metrics show that he brings solid defensive awareness to the table. Wennberg will also be able to help a New York penalty kill unit that is already top five in the league, recording an 83.15% success rate being a man down.
The General Manager of the Kraken, Ron Francis, is using a similar deadline strategy as he used two years ago, as he went on to acquire 10 total draft selections leading up to the deadline in 2022. In this deal, Seattle will now have five total selections in the first three rounds of the 2024 NHL Draft, and 17 total selections over the next two years.
Avalanche, Sabres To Swap Casey Mittelstadt, Bowen Byram
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to correctly reflect that Byram was the fourth overall pick in the 2019 draft.
The Avalanche are making their second high-impact deal of the day, acquiring center Casey Mittelstadt from the Sabres in exchange for defenseman Bowen Byram, per a team release. With the two trades made today, Colorado has increased their salary cap space to $4.9MM leading up to the deadline.
This trade will mark the third attempt by the Avalanche to fill in the second-center void left by Nazem Kadri two years ago. With Alex Newhook and Ryan Johansen not working out in the role, Colorado is taking a swing on Mittelstadt amidst his breakout campaign in Buffalo.
Largely inconsistent during his first four years with the Sabres, Mittelstadt has become a formidable offensive threat over his last two campaigns. In 144 games for the Sabres since the start of the 2022-23 season, Mittlestadt has recorded 29 goals and 106 points, as well as leading all Buffalo players in scoring this year. 
He will leave much to be desired in the faceoff dot as well as defensive play in his end, but the Avalanche carry enough defensively-minded forwards to shore up Mittelstadt’s shortcomings. Nevertheless, as they already sit atop the league in GF/G, the introduction of Mittelstadt, coupled with the eventual return of Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog, will create a nearly unstoppable offense for Colorado come playoff time.
The elephant in the room, when it comes to Mittelstadt, is his looming restricted free agency this summer. With Mittelstadt playing himself into a hefty raise upon his current $2.5MM salary, it will be difficult for the Avalanche to keep him in the fold for the long-term future of the organization. Heading into the offseason, Colorado will only have around $10MM available in cap space with plenty of depth pieces headed for unrestricted free agency.
In Byram, the Sabres will acquire the former fourth-overall selection in the 2019 NHL Draft, joining Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power on Buffalo’s blue line of former top-five selections. Still only 22 years old, Byram is in his fourth professional season, already having a Stanley Cup victory under his belt.
Limited by concussion issues in the past, Byram has put together back-to-back respectable seasons in Colorado, with a slight downtick in his production this season. Over the last two years, Byram has managed to suit up in 97 games for the Avalanche, scoring 18 goals and 44 points while averaging 20:44 of ice time per night.
Unfortunately, throughout his tenure in Colorado, Byram had to play second fiddle to the defensive pair of Cale Makar and Devon Toews and may be finding himself in a similar situation in Buffalo. With the top defensive unit of Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson set in stone, the Sabres have at the very least found a viable alternative to put next to Power on the team’s second defensive pairing.
If Byram’s development process continues on an upward trajectory, there is every indication that Buffalo could deploy one of the league’s most formidable defensive cores. With Dahlin, Samuelsson, and Power all signed to long-term contracts, the Sabres still have another year after this season to lock Byram up to a similar contract.
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was the first to report the trade.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was first to report that the trade was one for one.
Avalanche Acquire Sean Walker From Flyers
The Avalanche traded for one of the more highly-coveted right-handed defensemen on the market Wednesday, announcing the acquisition of Sean Walker and a 2026 fifth-round pick from the Flyers in exchange for center Ryan Johansen and a 2025 top-10 protected first-round pick. The Flyers subsequently placed Johansen on waivers. If the first-round pick ends up being a top-10 selection, it would transfer to 2026, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.
Walker, 29, began his NHL as an undrafted free agent signing by the Kings in 2018 after spending a season with their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. He made his major league debut that year, impressing with three goals and 10 points and a -8 rating on one of the league’s worst offensive teams. His possession numbers out of the gate were strong, posting a relative CF% of 3.6 at even strength in primarily defensive-zone usage. He quickly became a full-time fixture, playing in the majority of the Kings’ games across the COVID-shortened 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns. However, a torn ACL and MCL ended his 2021-22 campaign after just six games.
While he was cleared to play when 2022-23 rolled around, he didn’t look like the same player. Walker tumbled out of top-four consideration in L.A., averaging a career-low 14:50 per game while posting a 51.4 CF% at even strength that was slightly below the team average. He was a healthy scratch at times, too, making his $2.65MM cap hit an unaffordable expenditure for a Kings team looking to load up last summer.
As such, he was traded to the Flyers last summer in the three-team blockbuster that also saw Ivan Provorov head from Philly to the Blue Jackets. It turned out to be a necessary change of scenery for Walker, who’s rediscovered his confidence and has once again blossomed into a capable top-four blue-liner. With six goals and 22 points in 63 games, he’s on pace to break his career-high of 24 points set in 2019-20, and he’s also averaging a career-high 19:36 per game. He’s had impeccable possession impacts, too, logging a +13.9 expected rating and a 53.6 CF% at even strength, playing primarily alongside journeyman shutdown blue-liner Nick Seeler, who’s nearing an extension to remain in Philadelphia. Both were pending UFAs.
Walker will slot in as a more defensively responsible partner for Samuel Girard on the Avs’ second pairing. He replaces 2019 fourth-overall pick Bowen Byram, who Colorado dealt to the Sabres in exchange for center Casey Mittelstadt in a subsequent trade Wednesday. Notably, three of the Avalanche’s top four defenders are listed at under 6 feet, but their core is still remarkably similar to the defense that led them to a Stanley Cup championship just two years ago.
With all their first-round picks in store for the next three years (and after making two first-round picks in 2023), parting with one for Walker is a sensible cost to pay for a team looking to capitalize on the primes of Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar for a second championship. Ridding themselves of Johansen, who fell short of expectations with 23 points in 63 games this year, also clears a crucial $4MM off their books through next season. If he clears waivers and reports to the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, he’ll cost a slightly reduced $2.85MM against Philly’s cap.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the trade.
Sportsnet’s Eric Engels was first to report that the Flyers received a first-round pick, while Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports specified it will be in 2025.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was first to report that Johansen was heading to the Flyers.
The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta was first to report that Johansen was being placed on waivers.
Edmonton Oilers Acquire Adam Henrique, Sam Carrick
2:31 pm: The Ducks have made the trade official per a team announcement.
12:23 pm: The Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks are working on a trade that will send both Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick to Alberta. With the full trade details before either team has confirmed, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period is reporting that Anaheim will acquire a 2024 first-round selection as well as a conditional 2025 fifth-round selection that can be upgraded to a fourth-round pick if the Oilers win the Stanley Cup.
Although the Ducks are already retaining 50% of Henrique’s salary in the deal, the Tampa Bay Lightning were also brought in to retain 25% of the salary as well, earning a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick from the Oilers in the process. Aside from Henrique and Carrick, Edmonton will also be acquiring Tampa Bay’s 2024 seventh-round selection and goaltender Ty Taylor, who is currently rostered on the Evansville Thunderbolts of the SPHL.
Further reporting has indicated that Anaheim will be retaining 50% of Carrick’s contract as well, bringing his total salary with Edmonton down to $425K for the remainder of the season. Because the Ducks retained money on both players, they no longer have any retention spots available for any remaining trades they may make leading up to the deadline.
With Henrique now in the mix, Edmonton will have the opportunity to get creative in their top six. Understandably, they will likely keep their first line together heading into the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs but now can move either Evander Kane or Mattias Janmark around the lineup to create a more balanced offensive approach. 
Speaking of balance, that is exactly what Henrique brings to the table for the Oilers as one of the more consistent two-way forwards in the NHL. Formidable offensively, Henrique has scored 18 goals and 42 points in 60 games for the Ducks this season but also boasts a 52.9% faceoff win rate.
Aside from helping out both offensively and defensively at even strength, Henrique should also be able to improve the Oilers’ pedestrian penalty-kill percentage this year. Centering Anaheim’s top penalty kill unit for much of his tenure in California, Henrique should be able to slide next to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the team’s top penalty kill unit or be the focal point of the team’s second unit.
Carrick, on the other hand, gives the Oilers an upgrade to a portion of the offensive unit they have been craving for much of the season. Experimenting with Connor Brown and Adam Erne on the team’s fourth line, Carrick gives Edmonton a more bona fide player to utilize in that role.
In 61 games for Anaheim this season, Carrick has scored eight goals and 11 points in total as well as throwing 137 hits against his opponents. Carrick has mostly played down the middle for the Ducks this season but does give the Oilers some flexibility to move Dylan Holloway to the wing on the bottom line.
With the inclusion of a first-round pick going to Anaheim in this deal, General Manager Pat Verbeek has added yet another top selection for the 2024 NHL Draft, with the Ducks now having seven total selections in the first three rounds of this upcoming summer’s draft. With 11 picks in total for 2024, the Ducks will now have added 20 new players to the organization via the draft in the last two years alone.
In Tampa Bay, even by retaining a total of $1.45MM of Henrique’s salary, they will still have plenty of cap maneuverability to make a big splash come deadline day. Essentially purchasing a later-round pick from the Oilers, the Lightning could use this extra draft selection as a sweetener of their own in a few days.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports images.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report trade talks heating up between Edmonton and Anaheim.
The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report the trade had been completed.
TSN’s Chris Johnston was the first to report that draft picks would be headed to Anaheim.
Panthers Acquire Vladimir Tarasenko From Senators
11:33 a.m.: The Senators confirmed the trade and all its parts in a team release Wednesday morning.
10:45 a.m.: The Panthers are nearing a deal to acquire pending UFA winger Vladimir Tarasenko from the Senators, according to reports from Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Florida is sending a 2025 third-round pick and a conditional 2024 fourth-round pick to Ottawa, who retains 50% of Tarasenko’s $5MM cap hit, per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The 2024 fourth-rounder will upgrade to a 2026 third-round pick if the Panthers win the Stanley Cup.
Since no roster players are being sent back to the Sens, the Panthers must place a player on waivers and assign them a non-roster designation in the interim to create space. They have no open roster spots or waiver-exempt players to assign to AHL Charlotte. Swallowing Tarasenko’s reduced $2.5MM cap hit still leaves Florida with roughly $3.2MM in space ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.
Tarasenko joins his fourth team in the past two seasons and, based on previous reporting from Garrioch, ends up in his preferred destination. The 32-year-old has complete no-trade protection as part of the one-year deal he signed with Ottawa last summer, which he waived to approve the move to Florida.
In acquiring Tarasenko, Panthers GM Bill Zito addresses his squad’s most significant need on paper – another winger to ride shotgun with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk. 30-year-old Nick Cousins, who has just five goals and 10 points in 51 games, has been shouldering top-six minutes with Anton Lundell and Evan Rodrigues finding chemistry together on Florida’s third line.
The defending Eastern Conference champions are now deeper than ever, adding Tarasenko’s 17 goals and 41 points this season to an offense that already ranked eighth in goals per game. Even his middle-of-the-pack possession metrics should be an improvement over the struggling Cousins, who’s hurt both the Bennett and Lundell lines, per MoneyPuck. When flanked by Carter Verhaeghe, Bennett and Tkachuk have controlled 60.4% of expected goals compared to 51.8% with Cousins.
It’s likely not the return the Sens wanted for their highest-value rental, especially with salary retention included. The extent to which Tarasenko’s no-trade clause limited Sens GM Steve Staios‘ options for a return is unknown. Two draft picks are better than none, though, and there was little reason for Ottawa to hold onto Tarasenko with the playoffs out of reach for a franchise-record seventh straight season.
Tarasenko’s absence should translate to an uptick in ice time for 21-year-old Ridly Greig, who’s averaged under 15 minutes per game, down the stretch. He’s been one of the Sens’ bright spots this season, posting a team-high +17 rating along with nine goals and 21 points in 49 games. Tarasenko’s most common spot alongside Drake Batherson and Tim Stützle will be filled by another veteran in Claude Giroux, at least out of the gate.
By retaining $2.5MM of Tarasenko’s cap hit, the Sens remain over the $83.5MM Upper Limit, requiring Joshua Norris‘ $7.95MM cap hit on LTIR to stay compliant. He remains out indefinitely with an upper-body injury potentially related to the shoulder problems that sidelined him for nearly all of 2022-23.
Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest was the first to report that two draft picks were heading from the Panthers to the Senators.
Philadelphia Flyers Extend Nick Seeler
3:40 pm: The Philadelphia Flyers have announced the signing, confirming that it will be a four-year, $10.8MM contract extension for Seeler. The deal will also carry a M-NTC for Seeler in the first two years of the contract.
9:59 am: Half of the Flyers’ top shutdown pairing appears to be off the trade block — for multiple reasons. Not only has Nick Seeler landed on injured reserve Wednesday with a lower-body injury, but his camp is making significant progress on a contract extension to keep him in Philly, Darren Dreger of TSN reports. Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period adds the deal is expected to be three or four years in length and will carry an average annual value of around $3.3MM.
In a transaction corresponding with Seeler’s IR placement, the Flyers recalled blue-liner Adam Ginning from AHL Lehigh Valley. It’s the 24-year-old’s first recall of the season.
Seeler, 30, has emerged from the woodwork to emerge one of the league’s most competent two-way defensive pairs alongside Sean Walker, who’s also seen his name bandied about heavily in trade talks. The two pending UFAs have been crucial in helping the Flyers break out for a likely playoff berth, posting a team-high 55.9% expected goals share in their 645 minutes together this season, per MoneyPuck. Seeler’s seen more limited usage at even strength – averaging 14:46 per game compared to Walker’s 16:47 – but he is tied for the team lead with a +15 rating alongside top scorer Travis Konecny. His overall 16:58 average per game is a career-high.
He’s slowly developed into a multi-competent NHL player after starting his career as a bottom-of-the-lineup enforcer with the Wild in the late 2010s. Since joining the Flyers in 2021, Seeler has accumulated six goals, 23 assists, and 29 points in 183 games. One of those goals and 12 points have come in 63 games this year.
While not guaranteed, Seeler’s extension increases the likelihood of Walker finding a new home within 48 hours. The Flyers are far ahead of schedule in their rebuild, and GM Daniel Brière has preached patience and not sacrificing long-term success for short-term gains in the weeks leading up to the deadline. Walker could command a first- or second-round pick plus a handful of other desirable assets based on the market set by the Chris Tanev swap last month after the Flyers took him on as a cap dump in a three-way trade with the Blue Jackets and Kings last summer involving Ivan Provorov.
Seeler is in the final season of a two-year, $1.55MM extension he signed in May 2022. His deal carries a two-way structure this season ($775K NHL/$350K AHL/$375K gt’d), although at no point has an AHL assignment been considered for him.
Unfortunately, the Minnesota native will miss a handful of contests as the Flyers try to maintain third place in the Metropolitan Division. Assuming his IR placement is backdated to when he sustained the injury on Monday against the Blues, he’s been ruled out for a pair of pivotal contests against the Panthers and Lightning this week.
Ginning, a second-round pick in 2018, could make his season debut if Walker is dealt by Friday or if the Flyers opt to dress seven defensemen. He’s appeared in 52 contests with Lehigh Valley this season, scoring twice and adding 11 assists for 13 points with a -9 rating. He’ll be an RFA with arbitration rights this summer after completing his two-year, $1.85MM entry-level contract.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report the official deal for Seeler.
Capitals Sign Rasmus Sandin To Five-Year Extension
The Capitals have re-signed pending RFA defenseman Rasmus Sandin to a five-year extension, the team announced Wednesday. His contract carries an average annual value and cap hit of $4.6MM, earning him $23MM over the life of the deal. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first to report Washington and Sandin were nearing an extension.
Sandin, 23, would have been eligible for salary arbitration if he reached restricted free agency this summer. He’ll be a UFA at the end of his new deal, which expires after the 2028-29 season.
The 2018 first-round pick has logged major minutes for Washington since they acquired him from the Maple Leafs for Erik Gustafsson and a first-round pick before last season’s trade deadline. With Martin Fehérváry missing a significant chunk of the season with injuries, Sandin has often slid into a top-pairing role alongside John Carlson and is averaging a career-high 21:19 per game.
That pairing has struggled defensively, conceding 2.97 expected goals against per 60 minutes, according to MoneyPuck. He’s fared considerably better in slightly less usage alongside Trevor van Riemsdyk, who have a 50.4% expected goals share (and only 2.19 expected goals against per 60 minutes) when paired together.
His production is down slightly from last year’s seven-goal, 35-point campaign, but he still has a respectable 20 points in 52 games and has plenty of room to grow as he enters his mid-20s. Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic pegs the deal as an immediate slight overpay but a long-term bargain, with Sandin’s average market value projected at $5.3MM per season over the contract’s duration.
The contract does not include any trade protection, per CapFriendly. $7MM of the $23MM total, approximately 30%, will be paid in signing bonuses.
Washington has their blue line set for next season with only Joel Edmundson on an expiring contract. If he’s not dealt by Friday’s trade deadline, he’s unlikely to be re-signed. Carlson, Fehérváry, van Riemsdyk, Alexander Alexeyev, Ethan Bear, and Nick Jensen are all signed to one-way deals through next season, giving the Caps a full complement of seven defensemen.
However, the signing does leave Washington in a cap crunch that GM Brian MacLellan will need to get creative to navigate. With pay bumps for Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson kicking in next season, the Capitals are down to $4.17MM in projected cap space with a roster size of 16, per CapFriendly. That figure accounts for buried center Evgeny Kuznetsov, whose cap hit is reduced slightly to $6.65MM while on assignment to AHL Hershey, remaining in the minors.
Sandin was in the final season of a two-year, $2.8MM deal he signed after holding out for most of the 2022 offseason.
Vegas Golden Knights Acquire Anthony Mantha
The Vegas Golden Knights have acquired Anthony Mantha from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-round pick, according to a team announcement. Mantha will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason as he is in the last year of a four-year, $22.8MM contract.
Since being acquired in a deadline deal from the Detroit Red Wings three years ago, Mantha has had an up-and-down tenure with the Capitals. Highlighted primarily by the numerous injuries suffered throughout his career, Mantha has been unable to suit up in a full season since 2017-18.
Because of those injuries, Mantha has been unable to procure any sort of sustained success in Washington, failing to score more than 11 goals in each of his first three seasons with the organization. This disappointing stretch of play from Mantha has led to numerous trade rumors surrounding his exit from Washington over the last few years.
However, Mantha has taken his offensive game back up to his previous expectations, already hitting the 20-goal mark through 56 games this season. Even while averaging just over 14 minutes of ice time each night, Mantha currently sits second on the team in goal-scoring.
By placing captain Mark Stone on LTIR, not only did Vegas have the cap space to acquire Mantha, but they also opened up a sizeable need to add scoring at this year’s deadline. Mantha should be able to fit nicely into the team’s top six in Stone’s absence, allowing the Golden Knights to move Michael Amadio down the lineup.
Hanging on by a thread for third place in the Pacific Division, Vegas has struggled with putting the puck in the net nearly all season. Currently, in all situations, the team is sitting 15th in the league with 3.18 GF/G, a far cry from 3.56 GF/G coming from the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers this year. Furthermore, the powerplay has not been a benefit to the team at all, as it currently sits 20th in the league with a 19.50% success rate.
If Mantha continues his current pace with the Golden Knights, he should be able to help the team dramatically in both aspects of the game. As another important note, the Capitals will be retaining 50% of Mantha’s salary, indicating that Vegas may not be done adding to their forward core.
Before this trade, Washington did not have a second-round pick in the upcoming 2024 NHL Draft, using it to acquire Connor Brown from the Ottawa Senators nearly two years ago. Now, they will have six total selections in their cupboard for this year, with another eight ready for the 2025 NHL Draft.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report that Vegas had acquired Mantha.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the return going to Washington.