Blues decline. We are looking to retool around 26 and younger players, not 30 year olds

Hawks will take mantha but the caps gotta pay a 4th atleast. Caps don't get to dump cap for free but they do get a little discount because mantha has a decent chance at bouncing back.

Isn’t everyone lol? There’s not just a plethora of 26 year old studs available via trade every year.

Hawks decline. They won't have to spend picks to get to the cap floor.

Doubt the Hawks take him on for a 4th based on previous cap dump trades Davidson has made. They'll have better options that being the Hawks higher picks.

I agree but I think the odds of mantha regaining value by the trade deadline are much higher than most cap dumps. I'd rather take a 4th for mantha than move up a few spots in the first round and have to deal with 2 years of granlund.

Yeah I think the Caps will have to trade to get rid of him too, one thing I could see is a team like yall just taking him at full salary for future considerations (I caps fan can wish) but I think yall could take him for free to not just get to the cap floor but assuming he plays half decent again hes a big winger that you know GMs like (even though he doesnt play like one) if hes scoring at a 40 point pace again yall could eaislt get a 2/3 at the deadline for him half retained.

My trade prediction for this would be like Mantha and a 6th for like Chicagos 6. Basically caps move up like 5 spots but then yall eventually when flipping him get another higher pick

I am starting to question OP's mental capabilities after seeing those trades

No thanks.

Disagree 100%. Hawks will weaponize their available cap space to accumulate additional higher round picks if they take on an unwanted contract. They aren't taking Mantha for free on the off chance that he actually plays up to his contract. Let the Caps keep him and take that chance

I agree the Hawks will use their cap space strategically. But the extent to which they can do that will be limited. There are only so many teams with a bad enough contract they would be willing to pay assets to offload it. From that group of teams, there are even fewer that even have the necessary assets to make such a deal. Bad teams have the luxury of taking on project players (I.e Mantha) at little to no risk and as TM11 mentioned, they can always flip them for greater assets at a later time. It’s give and take, the Hawks aren’t just going to be able to hold the league hostage and get 10 first rounders for every bad contract lol.

Hawks have taken on two bad contracts so far - Dickinson and Zaitsev. They got 2nd rounders for both. If the Hawks don't get an offer they think helps their rebuild, they won't make the trade. At this point, they only need to acquire one bad contract or sign one or maybe two UFA's and they are at the cap floor. So yeah, they can be selective.

I don’t see the blues taking that

Yeah but the blues are retooling around Thomas and Kyrou who are 23 and 25. Our GM specifically said they want guys who are young and have multiple years left on their contract. If they can't find those they will make all their picks in the draft then. Kuznestov does not fit what the blues are looking for in terms of age range because we are not trying to compete next year. Some good examples of the blues doing this was trading for Schenn in 2017 when he had 3 years left and he was 26. Then the next year they traded for O'Reilly and he had 5 years left and was 26.