The offseason has arrived for all but the two teams who are still taking part in the playoffs. For the rest, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Vegas.
To say the Golden Knights took a big swing at the trade deadline would be an understatement. However, it didn’t result in the immediate success they were hoping for; while they snuck into the playoffs and gave Dallas a real run for their money, they were eliminated in the first round. Now, GM Kelly McCrimmon will look at making some tweaks while trying to keep as much of the core intact as possible. Here’s what they will likely be looking to try to do this summer.
Create Cap Space
Before Vegas can do anything when it comes to adding to its roster or even trying to re-sign some pending free agents, they need to get some cap flexibility. As things stand, they have barely $1MM in regular cap space, per CapFriendly. Only one team (Philadelphia) has less. Granted, Robin Lehner and his $5MM price tag is quite certain to remain on LTIR but unless the Golden Knights can make the perfect LTI placement in the fall, they probably won’t be able to utilize all of that amount. They can get close but few teams are able to use it all.
Even if we suppose they get the perfect placement, that gives them a little over $6MM to work with. That’s not much to work with when you’re hoping to re-sign some of Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson, Michael Amadio, William Carrier, and Anthony Mantha up front.
Assuming they have designs on retaining several of those players, they’re going to have to free up some money. It’s also reasonable to suggest they don’t want to move their higher-paid core pieces which limits their options. On the back end, Zach Whitecloud feels like a possible trade candidate. He was a regular for most of the year but spent time as a healthy scratch after Noah Hanifin was acquired. For someone who is more of a third-pairing option, a $2.75MM price tag might be too much of a luxury for them to afford. Replacing him with a cheaper player would open up a little more spending room.
Meanwhile, up front, Nicolas Roy would be a popular trade target for teams if Vegas elected to try to fill his spot with a lower-cost center as three years at $3MM per season is affordable for most…just not necessarily the Golden Knights. A smaller move would be to move the final year and $1.9MM of Brett Howden’s contract, replacing him with someone making closer to half of that. The trade return probably wouldn’t be the strongest but if that helped add enough extra space to re-sign a more prominent piece, it’d be worth doing.
McCrimmon won’t be able to open up enough cap space to keep everyone but he knew that before acquiring and extending Hanifin while adding Tomas Hertl and his long-term deal. But if they can keep one of their top options and perhaps one of their bottom-six free agents, that would still be a good outcome for them.
Try To Re-Sign Marchessault
The most prominent of those pending unrestricted free agents is Marchessault. One of the few remaining original members of the Golden Knights, the 33-year-old followed up winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2023 by posting a career-high 42 goals in 2023-24. Not a bad platform heading into free agency, that’s for sure.
Both sides have openly discussed a willingness to get a new deal done although talks were late getting started; it’s believed discussions only got underway in recent days. Part of the hold-up could simply have been Vegas needing to get a better handle on what they have (or won’t have) to spend come July 1st before engaging but it still seems a little odd they waited this long.
Nonetheless, Marchessault is well-positioned for a nice raise on a multi-year agreement. After making $5MM in each of the last six seasons, he could conceivably push for $7MM while getting three or four years if he makes it to the open market. It’s possible that he could leave some money on the table to stay with the Golden Knights who likely can’t afford that type of contract given their salary structure but with this likely being his last big contract, that can’t automatically be assumed either.
Regardless of what happens, Marchessault’s later-career breakout has him on the upswing heading into free agency which will have him rated highly on our Top 50 UFA list to be released later this month.
Extension Talks
While McCrimmon will have some pressing matters to attend to when it comes to his group of pending unrestricted free agents, he’ll likely be looking ahead to 2025-26 as well. A little over a year from now, three important players will be eligible to test the open market, making them eligible for contract extensions as of July 1st.
Shea Theodore is another one of the few remaining original members of the franchise and, when healthy, has been a key cog on their back end for the past seven seasons, logging over 20 minutes per game in each of them. However, he has missed 62 games over the past two years which won’t help his cause when those talks begin. Having said that, the 28-year-old will be viewed by numerous teams as a top-pairing player and the market for those players is quite significant. At a minimum, it’s well above the $5.2MM AAV of his existing contract. Alex Pietrangelo ($8.8MM) and Hanifin ($7.35MM) are on pricey contracts and Theodore should end up in that range whether it’s this summer or next.
Then there are the goaltenders. Adin Hill went from being a depth addition between the pipes when he was first acquired to a player who was dominant in their run to the Stanley Cup in 2023. That helped earn him what amounted to a second bridge deal, albeit with a sizable raise this time around. That contract, one that carries a $4.9MM AAV, is set to expire next year and it will be interesting to see if he can beat that next time out. Hill set a career-high in appearances in 2023-24 but still only played in 35 regular season games. If he doesn’t see a number one workload, it will be difficult to justify giving him any sort of considerable raise. That makes his situation a tough one to work through in terms of finding a number that works now for both sides.
That isn’t necessarily the case for Logan Thompson, however. The 27-year-old has led Vegas in goalie games in his two full NHL campaigns and was the starter going into the playoffs. If that holds true next season, that will be three seasons of at least closer to a starting workload which will help his case if he gets to the open market. At this point in time, a contract for him likely starts above Hill’s current price tag and one thing is for sure, with the way their team is constructed, they won’t be able to keep both in the fold beyond next season.
Whether it’s Hill or Thompson, if they can determine which one to keep and get that deal worked out in the next couple of months, it’ll be one big item off of next year’s list.
Mine The Margins
Vegas has gotten quite accustomed to not being able to afford to carry a full-sized 23-man roster and next year should be no exception. However, there are a couple of spots on the big club that could be up for grabs depending on what happens with their pending free agents that they may want to turn to the open market for.
However, they won’t be able to get involved in any sort of bidding war. Instead, they’ll almost certainly be limited to offering minimum-salary deals ($775K) due to their cap situation. Those contracts aren’t often signed on the opening day of free agency. However, there are often bargains to be found with some patience so they may have to wait for the secondary free agent market to open up closer to training camp before filling those spots.
It would also be wise for them to get some NHL-capable pieces to be stashed at AHL Henderson. The upside isn’t typically too high for two-way free agents but getting some players who have shown they can handle limited roles can’t hurt for when injuries arise. These are the types of deals they can get aggressive on early as they’re likely to carry a $775K NHL cap charge with the only differences in offers from other teams being the minor league portion. Landing some of the better players on that side of the market could prove fruitful as the year goes on but they’ll have to work through what’s set to be a very large list of players to find the best fits.
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