Is George McPhee in panic mode?
The Washington Capitals have traded prized forward prospect Filip Forsberg, who recently shredded the World Junior Tournament for Sweden to the Nashville Predators, for Martin Erat and Michael Latta.
Forsberg entered the Capitals organization through the trade of Semyon Varlamov to Colorado, a trade that was nearly unanimously hailed as a great one for Washington. He leaves without ever having played a game for them, in a trade that seems like an incredible overpayment for a second line forward who’s beginning to decline at the age of 31.
Apparently the Capitals felt that going for a playoff spot this season was worth giving up their second best forward prospect, who really may be their best forward prospect considering that Kuznetzov is still a high risk of staying over in Russia.
Michael Latta has 35 points in 67 games in the AHL, his second full season there. Erat is a fairly consistent 45-50 point forward, but as mentioned, he’s getting on in years.
Last year when I evaluated all 30 NHL team’s drafting ability, I mentioned that Nashville had failed to draft an impact forward, but now they’ve found one through trade. David Poile remains a cagey, intelligent GM.
