Why would the Leafs retain on Mrazek and then massively overpay to move him?

Those goalies are both pretty unproven. I'd prefer somebody with more experience instead of both those guys.

Washington's goalie situation is still unsettled. I don't see them trading one of their two candidates for the starting job for a rental middle-6 forward. And if you're going to pay him $1.25 million, is that the sort of guy you want as YOUR starting goalie? A team that has at least pretensions to going all the way? And the other guy you think might be your starter is someone you got in exchange for a rental third-pairing defenseman?

For 300k more you buyout Mrazek and save the assets.

Buying out Mrazek costs $1 million for two years, then $1.5 million for two years after that. This way you avoid the dead cap space in years 3 and 4, when you need to re-sign Matthews, Nylander and Mariner.

Hawks would take this to get into the 1st round. Not sure you need to have the retention however and knit picking might be to lose one of the CHI picks...

Vanecek, 5th for Kerfoot

The Caps aren't the ones that add in this trade.

Caps counter: Vanecck for Kerfoot, 3rd (maybe a 4th if it's a sunny day)