As you are all most likely very well aware, the Washington Capitals made a few roster moves at Monday’s NHL trade deadline. First, they dealt a fifth-round draft selection to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for forward Michael Raffl. Then in more shocking news, they sent Jakub Vrana, Richard Panik, a first-round draft choice, and a second-round draft choice to the Detroit Red Wings to acquire forward Anthony Mantha.
So, that’s a whole lot of movement which means we need to take a look at what the Caps forward group could look like moving…forward.
We know that Anthony Mantha will be available for Tuesday’s home game against the Philadelphia Flyers (Michael Raffl will not be), so some new forward lines are going to be coming at us straight away. A reminder that Daniel Carr was moved to the taxi squad.
Caps General Manager Brian MacLellan spoke about Mantha’s addition to the lineup, saying that he thinks “the coaches can move him around a bit” and that “he’s going to have three good centers he can play with”. MacLellan added that he thinks Mantha will “benefit from a real good playmaking center like Kuzy or Nick” or that he could “also play on the third line”.
That means it’s time for some line projections.
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Wilson
Mantha – Backstrom – Oshie
Sheary – Eller – Sprong
Hagelin – Dowd – Hathaway
Here’s my thought process:
What do you guys think? And I want you to ponder about the possibilities of this in the future.
By the way, this is an entirely possible future line for the Washington Capitals.
Anthony Mantha (6'5, 234) – Aliaksei Protas (6'6, 210) – Tom Wilson (6'4, 220)
And it wouldn't be a "slow" line either.
— Chris Cerullo (@CJC_95) April 12, 2021
Headline photo courtesy of Elizabeth Kong
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