What is Washington Doing

I'm not exactly sure what the deal is either....but my speculation is that WSH is doing whatever it can to continue to compete for the stanley cup which means prospects and draft picks are not entirely worth as much to them as other teams, they are severely limited in terms of salary cap so they can only afford certain players and don't want to give up too much NHL talent to ruin their chemistry and production for the playoffs. Furthermore, I would assume that although Bowey is valuable, they have other younger D prospects like (Alex Alexeyev) who fit more into their future plans when their stanley cup window is not as open as it is now.

Not trying to just argue with a pens fan, but Bowey is pretty awful, like worse than Orpik. Sure he is 23, but on the caps he wouldn't play unless 2 or 3 guys were out. He is good for 2-3 Grade A chances against each game he plays, which is why he rarely played. Bowey was a 2nd round pick, but he is probably valued as a 4th or 5th rounder project. In terms of Value caps traded a late 2nd (55-62) and a 4th Round guy for Jensen (very underrated imo), and an early 5th most likely (BUF will probs have pick #10 so 165)

Alexeyev & Johansen are going to be top 4 D down the road imo. Seigenthaler & Djoos are better than Bowey right now and were drafted in 7th & 6th round.

exactly. that's precisely my point above. WSH has other guys that will fill the void that bowey would have filled and obviously WSH values alexeyev and johansen more than Bowey and they fit in better in terms of timing (meaning when they are predicted to arrive/contribute)

Bowey is not good enough to play in the NHL and he certainly isnt one of our best defensive prospects. Also looking at Jensen's analytics he's been a bright spot on a very bad Detroit team. I like that trade for both sides, and I don't think a late third for Hagelin is too much of an overpayment considering prices always rise at the deadline