Golden Knights acquire veteran winger from Capitals for picks

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, $22.8M 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.