Detroit has enough left-hand mid-tier defense prospects like Cholowski, McIssac, Hicketts, and Johansson. Berggren has shown pretty good skill and ability. He could crack the lineup in the next few years. I think I would pass on this trade.

DET might be hesitant to move him so soon after drafting him, but this could also be a good time to buy low (3 assists in his first 26 SHL games so far). LuJo isn't bad or anything, but there's just no way for him to surpass Siegs, AA, and MF at this point, and I think his greatest value to the organization right now is as a trade piece either for a roster player at the deadline or another prospect.

That seems fair. Recent late 1st for recent high 2nd. It seems like the Caps have just drafted so many defensemen lately, going by best player available, and there are other teams that tend to favor forwards in the draft. Based on Fehervary and Alexeyev's progress, it might be absolutely reasonable to trade Johansen for a similarly rated forward with a team like Detroit, New Jersey, or Montreal that has a lot of forward depth, and less at defense. Maybe even Nashville might want to play Johansen with his brother?

I don't think we can assess his SHL career yet after being out almost all of last year with a back injury. He should have a bigger role on his team this year, which should show how he's progressing and what they have in him. He looked really good during development camp this year, besides being winded easily, but he should be back in game shape fairly soon. Detroit will wait on his progress as he's one of their top forward prospects besides Veleno and Zadina.



Detroit has been drafting a lot of defense prospects in the last few years: McIsaac, Seider, Tuomisto, Johannssen, along with Hronek, Cholowski and Lindstrom. Detroit has a logjam on defense at the moment.

...and Svechnikov, Hirose, and Smith....

Detroit has a whole lot of good prospects! I think the Caps might try to trade Djoos and/or Stephenson for picks/prospects before the season starts. Some Detroit fans suggested Ehn and Smith could be fair for that, a couple weeks ago, and some of my fellow Caps fans insisted on E. Svech or Hirose.

I totally see your point on Detroit not needing more high-round defensive prospects at the moment. What an impressive list. Washington is overflowing with LHD and with NHL guys, in general, but isn't super-high-up in terms of forward prospects. It's really a puzzle to figure out what could improve both sides.