Anthony Mantha talks about being traded from the Detroit Red Wings to the Washington Capitals. April 13, 2021, Detroit Free Press
The Boston Bruins potentially have helped the Detroit Red Wings’ rebuild.
The Bruins eliminated the Washington Capitals Sunday, ousting them from the first round in five games. The Wings hold the Capitals’ first-round pick in the 2021 draft from the Anthony Mantha trade, and that little nugget just got a bit shinier.
The first 16 draft spots, which includes the Wings at No. 6, go to the 15 teams that did not advance to the playoffs, and to expansion Seattle.
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Playoff teams that did not win the division and failed to make the conference finals — the Capitals check both boxes — will be assigned the spots starting at 17, based on points.
The Capitals finished with 77 points. Entering Monday’s games, they and the St. Louis Blues were the only teams eliminated. The Blues earned 63 points, so the Capitals slot behind them.
Division winners that do not advance to the conference finals slot into the spots 25-28. Conference final losers slot into spots 29 and 30; the Stanley Cup runner-up gets the 31st pick and the champion picks 32nd.
If every other playoff team that finished with less points than Washington is eliminated, the Capitals would slot into the 24th pick. But the Winnipeg Jets (63 points) are up 3-0 on the Edmonton Oilers, and, entering Monday’s games, the Tampa Bay Lightning (75 points) needed just one victory to eliminate the Florida Panthers.
It looks like the Capitals pick will fall somewhere in the early 20s range. That’s where the Vancouver Canucks snagged Brock Boeser (23rd in 2015), who already has posted at least 20 goals three seasons, and the Philadelphia Flyers found Travis Konecny (24th, 2015), who has posted three 24-goal seasons.
The bottom line is the Wings will get a shot at drafting a player several spots ahead of where they would have had the Capitals performed better in the playoffs.
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General manager Steve Yzerman acquired the pick April 12, when he pulled off a trade-deadline swap that also yielded Washington’s second-round pick in 2022, and forwards Jakub Vrana and Richard Panik. Vrana, 25, used the 11 games that were left in the season to record eight goals, three assists and a plus-one rating, showing he can help a team that desperately needs more scoring. Panik, 30, fits requirements to be exposed in the expansion draft and if, as expected, he’s not chosen by the Kraken, he can fit as a bottom-six guy.
And what did the Capitals get out of Mantha over the past six weeks? Like Vrana, Mantha scored in his debut with his new team.
Mantha recorded a goal in four consecutive games, but did not score again the next 10 games, and had four goals and four assists and an even rating in 14 regular-season games with the Capitals. Mantha had no goals and two assists in five playoff games, meaning he went 15 consecutive games without scoring a goal.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
The Link LonkMay 24, 2021 at 11:42PM
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nhl/red-wings/2021/05/24/detroit-red-wings-rebuild-nhl-playoffs-boston-bruins/5240774001/
The Detroit Red Wings' rebuild just got a little boost from the Boston Bruins. Here's why - Detroit Free Press
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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