The offseason is now in full swing with the draft complete and free agency now underway. What storylines lie ahead around the league in the weeks to come? Our Offseason Keys series continues with a look at the Vegas Golden Knights.
After the Expansion Draft, many expected that Vegas would be near the basement of the NHL. They had a collection of decent players but not many impact ones…or so it seemed. Instead of floundering, the Golden Knights flourished, winning the tough Pacific Division and making it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. What will they have in store for an encore? If they have plans on going deep once again, here’s what they will need to do this summer.
Add An Impact Defenseman
While Vegas picked up quite a few defenders through expansion, they didn’t have a prototypical top pairing player on their roster. They have hopes that Shea Theodore (picked up in an Expansion Draft deal) could become one but he’s not quite at that level just yet. They received quality performances from Nate Schmidt, Brayden McNabb, and Deryk Engelland as well but they’re all better utilized as role players and newcomer Nick Holden is best served on the third pairing as well.
That’s part of the reason why Vegas was actively in trade talks for Senators blueliner Erik Karlsson in the moments leading up to the trade deadline. Adding him would have allowed the Golden Knights to shift their players into roles that they were better suited for (not to mention adding a significant offensive weapon to their back end). This offseason, the two teams have explored a move once again.
With no help of note coming via free agency, this is a hole that GM George McPhee will need to fill via the trade market. One thing that will certainly help them is their salary cap situation – they should be able to take on unwanted contracts if it helps to get a deal done.
New Deal For Karlsson
What a year it was for center William Karlsson. After working out a deal with Columbus where Karlsson would be their selection (instead of winger Josh Anderson or goalie Joonas Korpisalo), it was expected that Karlsson would be a bottom-six forward. It was certainly reasonable to think so as well as he had put just 15 goals over the previous two seasons combined while playing third line minutes.
While some would have predicted a bit of an uptick in his production with potentially more playing time, no one saw 43 goals and 78 points coming. Karlsson blossomed into their go-to center, leading the team in scoring during the regular season while finishing third in postseason production. He even took home the Lady Byng Trophy in the end-of-season awards earlier this month.
All of this presents what is set to be a fascinating restricted free agency case, one that could be headed for arbitration as well after he filed back on Thursday. 40-goal players don’t typically go to hearings so it’s going to be very interesting to see what Vegas looks to offer and what he’s seeking from the team. He’s two years away from UFA eligibility so while a one-year, higher salaried ‘prove it’ contract makes some practical sense, there would certainly be some risk involved as well. Of course, handing a long-term, big money deal to someone who had a great year but no track record of previous success also carries some risk.
One way or the other, a deal will get done to keep their leading scorer in the fold. How they get to that point will make for a very intriguing situation to follow.
Fleury Extension Talks
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was another of the real bright spots for the Golden Knights in their inaugural year. While he had some challenges staying healthy, he posted his best career regular season numbers and then duplicated that performance in the postseason. After being viewed as someone potentially on the downswing, he wound up being one of the better goalies in the league last season.
The 33-year-old is now entering the final year of his contract and has already made it known that he would like to finish his career with Vegas. Considering the Golden Knights don’t have much in the way of high-end goalie prospects in the pipeline, it’s a feeling that should be mutual.
Having said that, this shouldn’t necessarily be interpreted as a notion that a deal has to get done. As things currently stand, next year’s goaltending market projects to be extremely deep with several other starters entering the final season of their respective contracts. If McPhee wants to slow play this, he could conceivably wait to see if other goalies sign and if not, use the other options as leverage to get a more team-friendly deal. In theory, that may seem like a wise way to go but doing so also runs the risk of alienating one of their top players. Realistically, it wouldn’t be surprising to see both sides work on getting an extension done over the summer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.