But Mantha got traded for a huge overpayment AND had a lot less intangible value to the team than Larkin. We said that Mantha wasn't getting traded when people wanted to low-ball us because of his down season and low total production due to injuries. If someone only offered us fair value for Mantha, he'd still be a Wing. But the Caps gave us an offer we couldn't refuse.
Give us a slightly younger player that's as good as Larkin, a first round pick and a second round pick for Larkin and we'll think about it. That's what we got for Mantha. That's why the replies in this thread are Suzuki+. It's not that we actually think you're going to trade us Suzuki and a 1st for Larkin. It's that we don't want to trade him and you have to give us a deal that's too good to say no to. The Caps did that, so Yzerman made the trade.
I agree that we have to keep looking to the future, but we also have to build a team culture and give our young players an environment where they can grow. I want to lose as much as possible next year, but I want to be competitive while we do so. Keeping Larkin isn't going to have a catastrophic impact on our pick location, but he will have a huge impact on our players' development by letting Seider, Zadina and Raymond play with a functional top 6 C.