Today was certainly a day to be happy for Vegas Golden Knights fans. The team acquired a top-ten center in the league in Jack Eichel while only losing one piece each from their prospect and draft pool.
However, the reality stands that Eichel isn’t free. He’s currently in the fourth year of an eight-year, $80MM deal that counts against the salary cap for $10M per year.
The Knights are doing a delicate dance with the salary cap’s Upper Limit, shifting both Eichel and Mark Stone to long-term injured reserve today to accommodate the transaction. They join Max Pacioretty on the list, meaning the entirety of what’s expected to be Vegas’ top line is on LTIR.
Now, this number is expected to decrease slightly as they send some players down as the team gets healthier, but CapFriendly lists the Golden Knights with a $91.8MM cap hit, just over $10M above the $81.5MM Upper Limit.
While the team should be able to activate Pacioretty and Stone without issue, it’ll be impossible as things currently stand to activate Eichel when he’s expected to return in February or March. The team will need to have a cap hit below the $81.5MM Upper Limit at that point in order to do so.
Needless to say, moves will need to happen for Vegas to shed enough salary to become cap-compliant. It’s no small amount of money, either, as they’ll likely need to offload $7-8MM in order to make things work.
Reilly Smith and the one year remaining on a deal paying him $5MM per season scream out as a likely candidate to be traded by the Knights. If Eichel is healthy prior to the trade deadline, it’s entirely feasible that Vegas could flip him to quite literally anyone. They could operate as a seller and trade Smith to a contender in the Eastern Conference, or trade him to a seller that could then flip him at the deadline.
If clearing that isn’t enough, the team could look at trading or waiving Brayden McNabb and his $2.5MM cap hit. He too is in the last year of his contract, and his role with the team is quickly being made expendable with the emergence of Nicolas Hague.
Regardless, it’s a surefire conclusion that the makeup of the team will need to be cheaper when Eichel is healthy and ready to play.
If you are a team, why would you try to help Vegas? They don’t have many top picks left to intice you to take on a contract
Because maybe you would just want the player(s) they’re dealing. It’s about helping yourself, not Vegas.
GM’s don’t make trades to try to “win” the trade. They make trades to make their own team better either in the short term or long term and also to stay cap compliant.
I would gladly take Reilly smith with a draft pick attached and see if he gets a fire lit under him and if not who cares he’s done after the season, I would take Mcnabb too for the same reasons
Vegas came close to winning it all in 2017 because they were deep top to bottom.
Now, they are building the most top heavy team in the league.
Losing guys like McNabb and Smith and replacing them with AHL’ers isn’t a winning formula.
The Leafs should be circling like vultures for Theodore. Jettison Woll,Dermott and Brodie anywhere with a thinning contract with AZ would be a start. Should have kept Hutton.
They don’t trust Dermott, Woll is the second coming of Zeitsev (WHY),and Brodie has been sluggish.
I wonder what would happen if Kyle put that in his computer.
when did the Leafs access the infinite cap space cheat code?
Ya he’s all about Theadore but doesn’t understand that the leafs already have 3 high end D men locked in long term deals. Even if they did trade for him you’d then have to trade a big ticket player as well. Leafs would have to make multiple moves to get him stripping what little depth they have to accommodate the move. No one is going to touch muzzin currently, Holl’s value has tanked. Brodie, Reilly, Sandin and Lilly aren’t going anywhere. Leaves Dermott as the most likely D man you’re probably trading out that has decent value. Then you run into the issue of only having 2 RD in the system capable of playing top 6 that’s actually right handed. Then who upfront are you moving cap wise to get Theodore? Cause Kerfoot is the most logical but he’s their only centre depth capable of playing top 6 minutes. Ritchie is the only forward with cap and no one is taking that 2.5 for next year too, same with Petr and his contract which you can’t move until the off-season anyways considering he’s played like 4 periods so far. All that said and yet the question of what does Vegas get that has value and keeps them under the cap cause remember the leafs now have to find a team to help them get under the cap and who’s gonna do that when that 3rd party could just go get Theadore.
@DarkSide830 – Kyle and Shanny may have given SuperFan “Gary B.” some highly-coveted COVID-proof seats at Scotiabank Arena.
Yeah,that’s right,I don’t understand. Give your head a shake.
You know they want Brodie out,right? You actually talked to his agent,so you know it all.
Don’t sneeze.
Mccrimmon has his hands full. But I trust that he can make the right calls and keep us in contention.
reilly smith you say? ….njd has entered the chat ….
First off nothing needs to be done at the moment. All those guys are injured and until all 3 are ready to come back it doesn’t matter. Which won’t be until after the Olympics.
I understand Smith would be easier to move for several reasons but the fact Dadanov wasn’t mentioned seems amazing to me. You attempt to move the overpaid 3rd liner before the useful 2nd liner. Especially since it also helps them solve next seasons cap issues.
I hear Arizona would be interested for the right future 1sts of Vegas.
The reality is nobody truly knows what’s going on with Mark stone and his injury.
He got hurt in mid October, if this is a six-month injury it’s basically the end of the year anyways. He may be the one to be Kucherov-Ed