The Capitals aren’t going to do this. Palmieri has an extra year and he looks absolutely done. I’d believe in Mantha’s ability to rebound far more than I’d believe in a 32yr old Kyle Palmieri.

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Dude, Palms was a *beast* when he came back from missing a couple of months with concussions, and he was one of the Isles’ best forwards during their playoff series. If anyone’s washed, it’s Mantha, so this trade would be objectively terrible, but for the Islanders; not the Caps.

Isles don't do this Mantha is horrible.
Tatar won't sign for that little....but he would be a good add

Kyle Palmieri was one of the Isles’ best forwards during their playoff push last year and was a key part of their best line, the Engvall-Nelson-Palmieri line. He’s better right now than Mantha would be even if he “rebounded”

I get the logic (swap an extra year of term for a worse player/cap hit this year) but the Isles are more or less the team that they are now through at least the end of the 2024-25 season. Clutterbuck & Martin's deals expire but they *should* be replaced by guys like Julien Gauthier & Arnaud Durandeau, and the only other current roster players whose deals expire next summer are Karson Kuhlman (whatever) and Sebsatian Aho (either re-signs cheap or is replaced by Sam Bolduc.)

Pass for the Isles. Would love Tatar at that price point, though.

Are we just conveniently forgetting that Palmieri played basically ALL of Last Season with identical point totals? A team trying to get younger like the Capitals would gladly keep Mantha and hope he can score 5 more points than he did last season and likely score as much as Palmieri and they don’t take on the extra year for a player already in their thirties. The Isles can keep chasing the playoffs with 30+ Kyle Palmieri. The Caps are turning the page.

Can he be that productive for two more years when he’s already in his thirties? I doubt it and the Caps certainly aren’t going to pay his salary to find out.

all of what you said is true except the caps turning the page. they're like the third oldest team in the league

11-16-27 in 67 GP vs. 16-17-33 in 55 GP is a pretty big difference when you extrapolate out to an 82 game pace. Mantha played at a 13-20-33 pace while Palmieri was basically a 24-25-49 pace over 82 GP.

Also feels weird to drag on the Isles for being "old" when, per CF, the average age on the Caps is 29.8 vs. 28.7 on the Isles. I also wonder how much signing 34-year-old Max Pacioretty gels with the idea of the Caps "turning the page."

love it