I'd think they'd opt for a player swap. Fitting Mantha into an already overflowing roster is not in the books, and then to try and play him to drive his value up isn't the smartest. Probably a deal that'd be made after training camp. As for the value, it's great for MTL and terrible for WSH. Play him 10 games and he could probably return more at that cap.

The thing about Mantha is that he's very good at both ends. Would think the 2nd that Niederreiter got last year is his ballpark value. If he's getting retention, you could be looking at more.

Montreal traded Hoffman because they wanted room for their young forwards on the roster. They aren't going to just take Mantha at 4 mil.