Caps may want to use Holtby for their own cup run. Just sayin'

Have u checked the standings cause caps making playoffs

OP must be confused with the other National capital

Samsanov could very well provide the same level of goaltending.

You're absolutely right. With 8 whole games of NHL experience I can say with full confidence that Samsonov is just as dependable as Holtby. Now excuse me while I load all of my eggs into the very shallow basket...

He started at 16/17 years old in the KHL. He carried the team to a Gagarin final posting an .930 so yeah I would be fine even if he doesn't have a lot of NHL experience seeing as he's been playing pro leagues since 2014. He is a monster and will be the starter going forward.

Well as we all know results in the KHL translate extremely well to the NHL, just ask Vadim Shipachyov…

Now let's assume your argument is valid and that Samsonov as a 22 year old playing his first season in the NHL is just as good as Holtby. Wouldn't it be nice to have 2 of them? Imagine if Samsonov got injured cause Radko Gudas levels an opposing player into him (doesn't seem that unlikely eh?). Wouldn't the caps want a solid plan B between the pipes? Or should they just roll the dice on that not happening and potentially wasting another season for the greatest goal-scorer of all time (Ovechkin) ?

For every KHL to NHL bust you could name I could name a success story (Yevgeny Kuznetsov) so lets not go generalizing players and an entire league here. It would be nice to have 2 starting goaltenders but lets look at the capitals cap situation. Blueliner Tyler Lewington was the only player eligible to be called up forced to play forward a few games ago due to cap constraints. Samsanov himself was forced to be sent down because the Capitals would not be cap compliant with him on roster and he was not waiver eligible. This trade frees up a ton of space and allows the team to fit Haglien and Panik on roster when fully healthy. Backstrom coming back will be another bomb to the cap structure and they will need to free up space somehow.

It's almost as if KHL results don't always translate to NHL success... It's almost as if its an entirely different league with different cultures and styles of play...

Samsonov is a promising prospect but as of right now he's a big mystery box at what he can consistently do at the NHL level. Would be an awfully big and unnecessary gamble for Washington to make to just for roster flexibility. Contenders typically are tight against the cap, I'm sure the Caps can get creative to figure it out without obliterating one of their greatest strengths

Of the sixty goalies with 50+ NHL playoff games on record, Holtby has the 2nd best career spct, behind Tim Thomas. http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?aggregate=1&report=goaliesummary&reportType=season&seasonFrom=19171918&seasonTo=20182019&gameType=3&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,50&sort=savePctg

Over the last five regular seasons he leads the NHL in wins and saves. He's 15th in spct and 8th GAA among goalies with at least 50 games over five years.

Over the last five playoffs, Holtby leads the NHL in wins and saves. Of goalies with at least eight games played, he's 5th in GAA at 2.11 and 4th in spct at .927.

Dell and Karlsson are cap dumps this year. The 2nd is for taking them. Holtby for a 1st? Not very tempting. Anyone can be traded in sports, but their team has to think it might win the trade. This is a good young player and three prospects apart (to say nothing of the Caps moving contracts back to balance numbers).

More risk/reward for each side:

To Wsh: Labanc, Jones, 2021 1st, Merkley

To SJS: Holtby, Djoos, Stephenson, 2020 4th.