-This is effectively Wilson for Debrincat 1 for 1. Both on 1 year contracts.
-There is no long term deal in place with either Debrincat or Wilson.
-Both teams swap players they have been attached to this off season.

The Mantha component is because Washington needs to dump cap to make Debrincat on a 1 year deal in the 7.85-9.00 range fit. They send Chicago either a 2024 3rd or a 2026 2nd to take 1/4th of Mantha's cap hit. Ottawa takes the other 1/4th. Chicago is compensated for burning a retention spot (usually worth a 4th at the TDL, but they get a bit more here for the same of leverage).

Ottawa can then sign Pinto to 2 years at 2M since he is a 10.4(c) RFA with little leverage. They have 16 plays signed and just about 10.2M before any of these moves. So adding Wilson, Mantha, and Pinto at about 8M or so gives them enough room to roll with 21+ bodies.

Ditching half of Mantha's hit and Wilson's entire hit makes it close to cap in/cap out for WSH.

There's no chance the Caps are moving Wilson. Especially for a player like Debrincat. That leaves a bigger hole than we have now. The only player on Ottawa I'd even consider moving Wilson for is Brady – and that will obviously never happen.

Plus, this doesn't look like a "lost all leverage" return at all. I'm honestly expecting an underwhelming return for Cat.