Last we looked in on the Vegas Golden Knights, they were in the midst of the Stanley Cup Final. Days later, they were the last casualty of the Carolina Hurricanes as Eric Tulsky’s squad took the Cup back to Raleigh. While the Hurricanes enjoyed a quiet offseason after their parade, the Kelly McCrimmon and the Golden Knights were somewhat busier.
The Golden Knights cap sheet seems to have been the focus of Kelly McCrimmon’s summer. He signed Rasmus Andersson to a long term deal on July 1, locking up their big acquisition from last trade deadline and signed Jeremy Lauzon to a long term deal as well. The Andersson deal in particular marked another of what’s become a trend in Vegas, whereby the Golden Knights have made a majority of their larger acquisitions in season over the past few years. In order to find the cap space to sign Andersson though, there were other moves required to balance their cap sheet. Putting Alex Pietrangelo on LTIR, where he’ll remain for the 26/27 season, was one piece. However, that wasn’t enough.
The Golden Knights also made four trades that sent NHLers packing in late June. Kaeden Korzcak was sent to the Penguins, Keegan Kolesar to the Red Wings, Akira Schmid to the Panthers, and Pavel Dorofeyev to the Rangers. Dorofeyev was the most notable of the group a pending RFA who put up 64 points last season. Clearly his ask was too much for a Vegas team already tight with the cap ceiling as he signed a 7 year extension with an $11MM cap hit with the Rangers following the trade.
There’s a trend with the the group of players Vegas moved out as well. Dorofeyev and Korzcak are 25. Schmid is 26. Kolesar is 29. This group was the majority of the younger cohort on the Vegas roster. Their departure leaves Alexander Holtz and Braeden Bowman offsetting an incredibly veteran heavy roster. It’s not a question of if age will take it’s toll on this roster, it’s a question of what will the toll be and how long do they have until it topples them down the standings?
The Golden Knights have been active over recent seasons in shifting their roster younger and staying competitive, adding the likes of Mitch Marner, Noah Hanifin and Andersson. The trouble is that these players are now the young end of the Vegas roster while in the later stages of their prime years. Adding to the potential collective age related decline, the Golden Knights depth has been thinned by their maneuvering to get under the cap. The top end talent is still there with Marner, Jack Eichel and Shea Theodore but the number of quality supporting players is starting to dwindle. The Golden Knights look like a team that could see their window slam shut rather suddenly.
Of course, we’ve seen the Vegas front office hit homeruns on the regular with star player acquisitions. Perhaps this roster will be able to stave off a collapse this season and buy some time for Kelly McCrimmon to make a big move or two that could change their outlook. It’s going to take an active effort from upstairs though, because help isn’t coming in any meaningful way from the pipeline. The Knights aggressive approach has depleted their pipeline to the point that even the strong return they received for Dorofeyev doesn’t bring it back to baseline.
This summer stands out as a bit of an oddity when we consider the Golden Knights history. Was trading Dorofeyev really their big move this summer? Were they working on something else that never came together? Might there still be a big late summer move coming? Are other teams finally wary of pulling the trigger when they see Vegas on the other side of a deal? Can an aging roster that still boasts some substantial star power hold it together for another season?
