I don't think this is something the Caps are very interested in. These moves seem to raise their floor but lower their ceiling, given the potential for Kuznetsov to get his game back on track. I think if Kuznetsov is getting traded, it'll be because the Caps are bringing in another high ceiling forward. Neither Backlund nor Johnson really do the trick there IMO

I honestly don't see the Hawks giving up assets for players that don't fit the rebuild window.

Backlund isn't even close to worth that. That center depth is even worse than it is with kuzy

Caps don't do either. Johnson is a big downgrade to Kuz and McM is more important than Backlund at this point. I like him Backlund but no point sending young assets for a 35yo for 1 season.

This team gets a top 5 pick at the end of the year. Holy crapoli

Trading Kuznetsov without a top 6 forward coming back isn’t realistic. Johnson is a cap dump. That Backlund trade doesn’t do anything for the caps. We don’t need a 3C. We have like 4 guys who can play 3C.

Hawks wouldn't be interested in Kuznetsov.

Team just gets worse