BREAKING: Vegas Golden Knights acquire top six forward from Washington in trade

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Liam McCormick
March 5, 2024 (4:17 PM)

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Moments ago, news broke from TSN's Darren Dreger that the Vegas Golden Knights have acquired forward Natgony Mantha from the Washington Capitals.

In return, Washington got a second round pick and a fourth round pick, a very cheap cost of acquisition.

Mantha recently became available from the Capitals and has drawn attention for his physical play, and he's been finding his ability again to score more and be offensively productive. In 56 games this season, he has 20 goals and 34 points, nearing a career year for offensive production. He's a free agent at the end of this season, currently coming in at an inflated $5.7M cap hit. In recent years, his contract has been a deterrent for a trade.

Earlier this season, Mantha made waves across the NHL for laying a beating on the most hated player in the league, Nick Cousins. It sounds ridiculous to say, but according to Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts, teams around the league took notice of this, and it made them want to trade for Mantha.

The Edmonton Oilers were one of the teams closely linked to acquiring Mantha in a trade as a top six forward. Mantha was a former first round draft pick of GM Ken Holland while in Detroit, and it's clear he still believes in him. However, Mantha's expensive contract would always have been difficult to fit on the roster - especially when forwards Guentzel and Buchnevich are nearly the same price on their contract.