“ younger and more skilled” Irony?

Caps decline that flames trade. Giving up a ridiculous amount to swap 1Cs and get a mid upgrade on defense.

Also giving up far too many pieces in that Arizona trade. I don’t see the caps having any interest in that move.

It wasn’t meant to be, am I missing something?

That 1C going to CGY has checked out mentally from the Caps. Yes, when dialed in he’s a 1C, but that’s only on rear occasions now a days.
Price is what you pay, value is what you get. I’d rather overpay for the right pieces then try to lowball patchwork fixing.

The ARI deal is more like 2 deals-in-1. Mantha + 3rd for cap space and Schmaltz + 2nd for CMC + 1st + slightly better 2nd.

It also about beating the competition for a player you want.

I would rather hold onto Kuznetsov and Mantha. Mantha looks like he's determined to bounce back next year. He has the skill. I cannot see the caps paying to dump him. Schmaltz is going to cost way more than he's worth. I'd avoid trying to add him. He's a top 6 winger who can play center, but if he's supposedly gonna cost a top prospect and a first round pick, we completely have to just let that go. MacLellan isn't going to mortgage the future like that after saying it's time to get younger.

Look at Kuznetsov and Lindholm's hockeydb pages; it's the same story with both of them. Up and down year after year. Lindholm does have slightly higher lows, but not enough to justify trading all of that extra stuff for him. Let alone moving our best young defenseman, a top prospect, and multiple draft picks. It's just not worth it.