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Golden Knights Likely Need a Big Trade to Get Cap Compliant

The Vegas Golden Knights have work to do in order to get cap compliant for the 2020-21 NHL season. That potentially means another trade.

The Vegas Golden Knights did what they needed to in order to fit Alex Pietrangelo’s contract in during the offseason. That said, they didn’t do enough to become cap compliant which means another trade or series of moves are in the works to shave another $1 million in cap space off their current roster.

Related: Not So Fast: 7 NHLers Who Could Still Be Traded During 2020/21 Season

Tom Callahan of Vegas Hockey Now has taken a closer look at what might come next for the Golden Knights who are nearly $1 million over the salary cap with just 21 players under contract. GM Kelly McCrimmon has noted the team is not planning to move goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and will run with a tandem of Fleury and Robin Lehner. If that holds true, something’s got to give.

There is the option of putting Lehner on LTIR considering his offseason surgery but he’s not expected to miss a ton of time and the longer the season is delayed, the less likely that becomes a viable option for Vegas. The Golden Knights could demote a player or two, but considering their roster size, that might not cut it.

Callahan expects a trade.

What Might the Golden Knights Move?

Obviously, any deal that takes place is being to done to lower the Golden Knights cap by $1 million. Therefore, the player going out will need to make enough money to net a difference of negative $1 million if the team is taking a player back.

Robin Lehner Vegas Golden Knights
Robin Lehner Vegas Golden Knights

He writes:

Along the lines of the Paul Stastny and Nate Schmidt trades, another trade would have to see the VGK ship out a player who makes $1M or more above what they take back in salary. Potential deals aren’t easy to structure because of two reasons.

Noting that one of the two reasons is that other teams won’t be anxious to help Vegas out of a jam, the team might have to move someone of value they don’t want to lose or give a bit of a sweetener to make the deal. The players that fit are names like Jonathan Marchessault ($5 million), Ryan Reaves ($1.75 million), Tomas Nosek ($1.25 million), Alec Martinez ($4 million) and Nick Holden ($1.7 million).

The other reason is the simple disruption all these moves — including adding Pietrangelo — might be making in the locker room.

Next: Ranking the Top 4 NHL Wingers Becoming UFA’s in 2021

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