Expect Golden Knights to be silent in free agency

By Jesse Granger

Saturday, July 1, 2017 | 2 a.m.

The NHL free agency period begins at 9 a.m. today, but don’t expect much from the Golden Knights.

After what general manager George McPhee deemed a highly successful expansion draft, the team has little interest in the available free agents.

“It’s probably going to be quiet for us,” McPhee said. “We did much better with expansion claims than we anticipated and we are pretty happy with our team so I don’t think we’ll be very active.”

Vegas already made qualifying offers to all four of their restricted free agents before Monday’s deadline. Wingers Brendan Leipsic and Teemu Pulkkinen, center Oscar Lindberg and defenseman Griffin Reinhart all got one-year deals.

They each have the option of signing their qualifying offer or rejecting it to become a restricted free agent. McPhee said he expects to keep three of the four but wouldn’t specify which will leave.

The free agent class isn’t particularly bountiful. Some of the top players include former Canadians winger Alexander Radulov and veteran centers Joe Thorton, Martin Hanzal and Nick Bonino.

“We will certainly talk to people but we like what we have,” McPhee said. “We have a full squad.”

Actually, the Golden Knights have more than a full squad.

On June 21 McPhee selected 14 defensemen with the intention of trading many away to acquire assets. The very next day he shipped Trevor van Riemsdyk to Carolina for a second round pick and David Schlemko to Montreal for a fifth rounder.

Since then the market for defenseman has slowed significantly. McPhee was only able to get a second round pick and goalie prospect Dylan Ferguson from the Dallas Stars for Marc Methot – who was believed to be the most valuable of the remaining trade chips.

The Golden Knights will only be able to keep eight defenders on their roster, meaning they will likely still have to trade three more. The most likely candidates to leave Las Vegas are Alexei Emelin, Colin Miller and Luca Sbisa but moving them is easier said than done.

“There’s a market there but it’s all about timing,” McPhee said. “Teams that don’t get what they are looking for in free agency will be circling back to us.”

McPhee’s thought is teams are unwilling to give up assets for defensemen when they believe they have a chance at signing players like Kevin Shattenkirk, Karl Alzner and Trevor Daley, but if they whiff in free agency they could come crawling back to Vegas.

And because of that McPhee doesn’t mind waiting.

“There are some discussions in the works,” McPhee said. “Time will tell. Ideally (the trades) would be within the next three days but we’ll wait as long as necessary.”

Jesse Granger can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Jesse on Twitter at twitter.com/JesseGranger_.