Report: Capitals May End Up Holding Off On Trading Mantha & Kuznetsov For Various Reasons

The Washington Capitals are reportedly not having much look on the Anthony Mantha and Evgeny Kuznetsov front.

The Washington Capitals have been pondering changes amid a lengthier offseason than usual while facing difficult questions regarding a few players' futures in D.C., including Evgeny Kuznetsov and Anthony Mantha. However, it appears that they've found their answer, and it'll most likely be keeping them on board -- for now.

Per The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun, Washington is willing to trade Mantha and is "probably" open to shipping out Kuznetsov, too. However, Mantha hasn't gotten a lot of interest, and the team would rather hold onto him and see if he can rebound rather than ship him out for a minimal return. As for Kuznetsov, it's becoming "a long shot" that they deal him.

Mantha has one year left on his contract at $5.7 million and will be a UFA next July. He hasn't been able to show much in Washington, as he put up just 11 goals and 16 assists in 67 games this past season and has just 24 goals in 118 games in D.C. since arriving at the 2021 NHL Trade Deadline in exchange for Jakub Vrana.

The 29-year-old acknowledged at the end of the season that he hasn't lived up to expectations and took accountability for his performance while adding that he hopes to get another chance to show what he can do.

Though Mantha added that there was nothing between him and head coach Peter Laviolette, Mantha's confidence admittedly hit a "very low" point as Laviolette scratched him and demoted him due to lack of performance.

Under new head coach Spencer Carbery, Mantha has the opportunity to get his confidence back.

As for Kuznetsov, tensions between him and the Capitals have risen amid inconsistency in his play and off-ice issues over the last few seasons. He also reportedly requested a trade at one point (though Kuznetsov somewhat denied those rumors). General manager Brian MacLellan expressed disappointment in his play on breakdown day as Kuznetsov put up a career-worst scoring rate and shooting percentage, though No. 92 was confident he would bounce back.

Like Mantha, Kuznetsov didn't seem to thrive under Laviolette's systems -- with the exception of his bounce-back in 2021-22 -- so it will be interesting to see if he can also revive his play and rekindle his joy for the game under Carbery.

In the end, it may be a better solution to hold onto both if there's not a better option out there, and looking at the market, there may not be any affordable and strong solutions that are better than holding onto both.

Plus, throwing in prospects as a sweetener may not be worth it, especially with Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre showing promise in Hershey.