Idk the Caps pretty massively overpaid for Mantha.
He's a great player and a really good fit for them, but that doesn't mean he's worth what they paid for him. If the Caps win because of the move, not a single Caps fan is going to be mad that they traded too much for Mantha.
The caps weren’t thinking about immediate drafts, especially this one with so many players playing less/scouts job being harder
They’re not going to be able to just slightly retool when Ovi and Backstrom age out h less they luck out. They’re going to rebuild, and they wanna go all in this year and next and are sure Mantha is better built for playoff hockey than Vrana, who just gets bullied in that style of play unless he just gets lost in coverage.
And Panik, even if he happens to be better than some in the Wings depth was not an add in for Mantha. He was an overpaid plug, a very good plug who doesn’t hurt his team just doesn’t add much that wasn’t easily replaced by multiple Caps guys who can actually score some and cost less.
you pay for cap dumps any year, an especially this year when teams have to pull off gymnastics to avoid cap crunches. There’s leverage moreso than usual in being the team that relieves a burden.
Could they have bickered “well he’s a cap dump for us, but an add for you”? Sure theoretically, except the wings had 100% of the leverage. They didn’t need to trade mantha, certainly not right now whereas they knew the Caps didn’t want mantha in the summer, they wanted him right now for these playoffs
and they have immediate cap issues
Detroit had all the leverage here, they’re in no rush to do anything. Even to whatever extent Panik might add something in their eyes, what do they need it for? Are they loading up for a cup any time soon? It was just cap dump, a way overpaid player.
it was expensive, if I’m feeling too lazy to argue semantics I can settle for “overpay” but let’s not act like this was pure wizardry by one GM and idiocy by another; The wings were a tad lucky the Caps were desperate generally, partly due to covid cap crunch and their souring on Vrana or this probably doesn’t happen at all for any price
the Caps knew exactly what they were doing, like many teams who’ve mortgaged the future (hey, higher draft picks a few years longer in a for sure rebuild) for an immediate last ditch Cup effort before their current era ends. They at the very least owe it to Ovechkin and Backstrom, and to the fans to go for it before we’re stuck with no playoffs anyway