Quoting: Mac_Attack
Ottawa was already trying to trade hoffman at the deadline so its not like ottawa doesnt want to trade him. DSP hasnt been great but hes young which is what ottawa is looking for. you said each team loses but they dont. Ottawa gets an Elite goalie for their future and wsh gets depth which is the reason why every year they cant make it past the second round in the playoffs cause they have no depth right now. Ottawa getting holtby is a huge head start on their rebuild because no matter how many young start forward u have ur not gonna win if u dont have that great goalie. look at buffalo for example they have so many young stars yet still finished last in the nhl cause they dont have that elite goalie.
They like their goalies. I have heard nothing but good things about them. So I assume they need to shore up the defense to get full value out of any goalie.
You're talking about playoff scoring depth and trading for Hoffman based one a point every other game in the palyoffs, as a 26 and 27 year old.
Most goal scorers (like Hoffman and Smith-Pelly) peak at age 27. They improve up to about that point, and they get a little worse each year after that. Hoffman at 28 is likely just over the hill to where he'll have to start training like Chara if he wants to maintain his current scoring pace. Smith-Pelly, in a small sample size this Spring, is as good as Hoffman, at less than a 6th of the cap hit. And he's three years younger, still trending upward. I wouldn't trade them straight up.
Holtby has the 2nd all time playoff save percentage, and is doing well against Columbus where Grubauer didn't. He's a big game player and the Caps need him to get any further than they have, or they need to get an even better superstar back to make up for losing him. Hoffman makes up for losing Smith-Pelly, this year, but next year he'll be a little worse. Condon doesn't make up for losing Holtby, yet, so the Caps have lost this trade on the ice.
You've also invested all available cap space in a fourth line center you have to buy out right away because he was -32 with 5 goals this year. Please try again?