Quoting: OldNYIfan
So far Sam Steel is a disappointment, kinda like a West Coast Casey Mittelstadt. He was chosen in the first round because he was a scorer in juniors (132 points in his last year, I think) but hasn't shown much in the way of scoring talent at the NHL level. (In contrast, Max Jones, taken only 6 places earlier primarily as a "power" forward, has shown flashes of brilliance this year, stickhandling several pucks into the net.) I think we'll give him one more year to develop, but his time (and his trade value) is limited. Grant is one of those essential bottom-sixers whose value is more intangible than obvious. He's a character or "glue" guy, sort of a Swiss-Army-knife guy who can play all three positions and is a first-option penalty killer. (The Kings have a similar but younger type in Trevor Moore.) Grant would probably only fetch a fourth or fifth but he's worth more, if you know what I mean.
Yeah. Guys like Grant are hard to find and the Caps could really use his help on faceoffs, with Kuzntesov and Backstrom each below 46% this year. Oshie can play with one and take some of their draws, but putting Grant with the other could get the team up to 50% on the dots, whether or not he can keep up, offensively. Dowd and Eller are solid on the 3rd and 4th line.
Panik used to kill penalties, in Arizona, a little, and the team was pretty good at it I think. Since 2017-18, Panik is top-50 among listed RW in even strength points, but a lot of listed centers play wing, so he's still just a middle six wing. If that. It's hard to tell this year, when he plays 11 minutes a night and has only nine points. Under Reirden, I thought Panik was just in the doghouse for no reason. Now they've changed coaches and he's still just 3R. So maybe it's him. But he hits a lot and he's got a little bit of size so he's not a bad 3R if that's what he is. Going into last year I would have compared him as about identical with Zach Hyman, in terms of goals, points, defense, PK, and checking, but they've gone opposite directions, lately.
It sounds like Siegenthaler needing to be protected from expansion makes him not a great fit with Anaheim. I could see dropping Siegenthaler and Steel out of that offer and still calling it decent for WSH. Whether or not Panik is as good as Grant, opening up 2M to give Ovechkin a raise next year and turning Vrana into someone whose salary stays fixed for one more season means the Caps can re-sign Ovechkin easily and bridge Samsonov for a little while. I'd love to see the Caps turn their extra LHD depth into some forward depth, but that's more of a want than a need, and I'm not sure whether the Caps are ready to talk about trading Fehervary or Alexeyev.
Alternatively, some Caps fans are high enough on Jensen's offense now to start talking about TVR trades. Van Riemsdyk is probably just not exciting enough for Seattle to pick him, but he's the kind of 3RD Chicago won the Cup with, and he's a right shot, so... he could fill in for a while, if Anaheim has big offers on its better right shot defensemen. But at that point, I think WSH adds a late pick.