NHL Trades and Rumors
Pacioretty Trade Talk a Smoke Screen For Different Golden Knights Move?
Could all the talk surrounding Max Pacioretty just be confusing the real trade the Vegas Golden Knights might be looking to make?
The talk of late — even if owner Bill Foley denies any truth to the rumors — is that the Vegas Golden Knights are ready to move forward Max Pacioretty in a trade. The idea is to bring the Golden Knights back down under the $81.5 million salary cap ceiling while potentially opening up cap space to go after a couple of still-unsigned NHL free agents. But, moving Pacioretty isn’t the only way for Vegas to accomplish such things.
Related: Golden Knights Owner Sets Record Straight on Pacioretty Trade Rumors
In fact, James O’Brien of NBC Sports notes that there may be a better moves (or moves) the Golden Knights can make than shipping out a 32-goal scorer who could absolutely help the team this coming season.
Foley insisted “we are not shopping Patches.” If that’s true, it’s worth looking at other names that might be on the block out of Vegas. The best deal the team could make would be to ship out goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, but that too is apparently not in the cards if you listen to general manager Kelly McCrimmon.
The Athletic’s Jesse Granger followed up Frank Seravalli’s initial report on the Pacioretty news with reports that the Golden Knights might be just as likely to move Jonathan Marchessault and Marc-Andre Fleury. One source told Granger that Vegas was “aggressively shopping” Marchessault too.
While Foley wasn’t asked about Marchessault trade rumors (he was specifically asked about Pacioretty), he also didn’t comment on anyone else. That means the team could be shopping the forward. It might also mean they aren’t, but it would make some sense if his name popped up more frequently in the trade rumor mill.
Related: Four Potential Trade Destinations for Max Pacioretty
Why Move Marchessault Over Pacioretty?
Marchessault carries a cap hit of $5 million for four more seasons (through 2023-24), whereas Pacioretty costs the team $7 million per through 2022-23. Despite the extra year, Marchessault might be an easier sell.
Further to that, Marchessault gets less expensive as time rolls along. He costs $5M in actual salary for two seasons, but his costs drop to $3.5M in 2022-23 and 2023-24. For a team struggling to financially, that’s a nice little incentive.
Marchessault is younger, still extremely productive and is less likely to have the bottom fall out when separated from the players that helped him produce. It’s not clear whether or not Pacioretty can repeat the same success as last season if he’s not playing alongside Mark Stone.
What About Free Agency?
Ideally, the Golden Knights don’t want to move either player. If they can get back under the cap without having to ship out a key forward, that would be the best case scenario.
That said, one of the key things Seravalli said when he first reported the news of a potential Pacioretty trade was that the Golden Knights were interested in dipping their toes back into the free agency market. They are such an attractive destination for players that they almost can’t help themselves.
What if this isn’t just about getting under the cap? What if the Golden Knights have their eyes on someone in free agency and they need to move out additional money to be in the conversation? If so, it makes a lot more sense that someone like Marchessault would be discussed in a deal and that the Golden Knights owner wasn’t lying when he said the team wasn’t shopping Patches.
After all, at the end of the day this is about Vegas trying to not only save money, but avoid getting weaker as a team. Machessault out and someone else in for a net difference of about $1-$2 million makes a lot of sense.
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