The NHL’s March 8 trade deadline is still a couple of days away, but the days leading up to the deadline have already been busy ones for the Capitals. They’ve made a significant trade and a waiver claim, and they’ve signed last season’s prized trade deadline pickup – defenseman Rasmus Sandin – to a five-year contract extension.
Sandin’s deal is for five seasons, and the annual salary cap hit to the Caps on his deal is $4.6 million. The five-year deal is worth $23 million in total.
“Big news for the organization, and I’m happy for Sandy,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “To be able to earn that contract and for us to have him as part of the organization for the extended future is a good thing, so I’m happy for him.”
Most noteworthy, the Capitals traded winger Anthony Mantha to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday evening. The Caps will retain 50 percent of Mantha’s remaining salary, and they will net Vegas’ second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and the Golden Knights’ fourth-round pick in 2026.
As they continue to chase a playoff spot over the final quarter of the campaign, Mantha’s departure leaves the Caps without a significant source of 5-on-5 scoring. Mantha and Dylan Strome each have 17 even-strength goals this season, tied for the most on the team. Mantha and Strome are in a 12-way tie for 34th in the NHL in even-strength goals; also listed among those dozen players with 17 goals at evens are the likes of Mitch Marner, Roope Hintz, Sebastian Aho, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Brad Marchand.
Mantha came to the Caps at the 2021 trade deadline, just under three years ago. His time in the District was marred by some injuries and some inconsistency, but he worked hard this season to get his game back to where it had been before he came to the Capitals. Prior to this season, Mantha had 24 goals in 118 games with Washington. This season, he potted 20 goals in just 56 games to post the highest single-season G/60 rate (1.5) of his career to date.
Mantha’s 2023-24 turnaround helped the Caps acquire a pair of draft picks, and picking up half of his salary for the rest of the way doesn’t hurt Washington at all; the contract is up at season’s end. With only a quarter of the season remaining, Mantha is due a total of less than $1.5 million the rest of the way.
The 29-year-old Mantha netted his 20th goal on Sunday afternoon against Arizona in his final game with the Caps this season. He had 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in his last 15 games with Washington.
Mantha’s departure opens up a top nine slot on the wing for one or more of Washington’s young prospects to assume over the team’s final 22 games. Ivan Miroshnichenko is likely first up on that list, but the likes of Ethen Frank and Pierrick Dubé – and potentially others – are waiting in the wing.
“We’ll see how it shakes out,” says Carbery. “I’m not sure that I could answer that and say, ‘It’s going to be this one player.’ I think it will be a shared responsibility, whether that’s Miro getting an opportunity to play right away. So there’s call it 12-13 minutes, and then [Nicolas] Aubé-Kubel potentially on that right side playing a little bit more.
“We’ll see how it shakes out. I can’t tell you exactly who is going to fill that role, but there will be opportunity to go around whether that’s guys that have been here all year or some guys Miro, in Miro’s case of getting an opportunity.”
Admittedly, that’s a better question for Saturday when the dust has settled from deadline day. More trades between now and Friday could also open up more lineup slots for younger players over the season’s final quarter; stay tuned on that front.
On Feb. 28 of last year, the Caps acquired Sandin from the Toronto Maple Leafs, using assets obtained in a deal with Boston days earlier to swing the swap. Sandin debuted with the Caps on March 4 of last year, piling up three assists in a win over the Sharks in San Jose. A year later, the Caps have sewn up Sandin’s services for the next five seasons.
“It feels great, obviously,” says Sandin, whose brother Linus also signed a multi-year contract extension with Rogle BK Angelholm of the Swedish Hockey League on Tuesday. “I don’t think you try to think about that stuff too much during your time when you’re playing, or during the season. But it feels great to have it done, and I’m very excited to be here for another five years.”
In his 71 games with the Capitals, Sandin – who turns 24 on Thursday – has totaled six goals and 29 assists for 35 points.
With the Leafs, Sandin averaged just 16:40 in nightly average ice time, scattered over 140 games in parts of four seasons. With Washington, Sandin has assumed a larger role and has thrived with the added minutes and responsibility. He is averaging 21:46 per game during the Washington phase of his career, and he is at 21:19 nightly this season.
Sandin’s effective two-way game, his skating, his hockey sense and his honesty as to his game and his attributes recall a deadline acquisition from decades ago, and the Caps will be ecstatic if Sandin’s career plays out similarly.
Just last week, Caps defenseman John Carlson surpassed the longstanding franchise mark of 983 games played by a defenseman. That standard was set by the elegant, efficient and effective Calle Johansson. Like Sandin, Johansson was 22 when he came to D.C. in that deal with the Sabres, and he stayed for 15 seasons.
Thirty-five years ago tomorrow, on March 7, 1989 – 11 years before Sandin was born – Washington made a deal with Buffalo to bring in Johansson, a young Swedish blueliner with 118 games worth of NHL experience, a player who had been a first-round pick of the Sabres in 1987.
Hours before the Mantha deal was announced on Tuesday, the Caps claimed winger Matthew Phillips off waivers from Pittsburgh. The Caps – who travel to Pittsburgh today for a Thursday game with the Pens in the Steel City – lost Phillips on Feb. 16 when the Pens claimed him from Washington. The Caps originally signed Phillips as an unrestricted free agent last July.
In three games as a member of the Penguins, Phillips was pointless. He reported to AHL Hershey initially, but is one of the young players who could be in the mix for more time in D.C. over the final quarter, depending on how everything shakes out in the next couple of days.
“We reclaim Matt Phillips, so he comes back into the mix,” says Carbery. “But we’re going to have to be careful on recalls post-deadline. We don’t have an influx of those as we know – [teams are limited to just four recalls from their AHL affiliate from deadline to season’s end] – so it’s not like we can just shuffle guys and just take a look at a ton of different guys.”
